A VOICE OF WARNING 
 
 AND 
 
 INSTRUCTION TO ALL PEOPLE ; 
 
 OR, AN INTRODUCTION TO 
 
 THE FAITH AND DOCTKINE 
 
 CHUKCH OF JESUS CHKIST OF 
 LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 
 
 y9^"^ 
 
 BY PARLEY P^ PRATT. / fr ' 
 
 - Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare : 
 before they spring forth I tell you of them." Isaiah xlii. <>. 
 
 " Produce your cause, saith the Lord : bring forth your strong reasons. 
 tsaith the King of Jacob." Isaiah xli. 21. 
 
 NINTH EDITION. 
 
 LIVERPOOL : 
 
 PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY BRIGHAM YOUNG, JUN.. 
 42, ISLINGTON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SAINTS' BOOK DEPOT, 30, FLORENCE STREET, 
 ISLINGTON. 
 
 1866. 
 
ENTERED AT STATIONERS HALL. 
 
Bancroft Library 
 
 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 
 1st page 
 
 , last line but one, 
 
 for " though," 
 
 read through. 
 
 19th 
 
 29th 
 
 " xiv," 
 
 xlv. 
 
 20th 
 
 13th 
 
 " has," 
 
 Jiast. 
 
 20th 
 
 17th 
 
 "way," 
 
 ways. 
 
 44th 
 
 31st 
 
 " contract," 
 
 covenant. 
 
 63rd 
 
 19th 
 
 " charter," 
 
 chapter. 
 
 64th 
 
 19th 
 
 "reward," 
 
 rearward, 
 
 70th 
 
 20th 
 
 "will," 
 
 with. 
 
 82nd 
 
 5th 
 
 " my," 
 
 any. 
 
 82nd 
 
 7th 
 
 "legal by," 
 
 legally. 
 
 89th. 
 
 23rd 
 
 " long as they," 
 
 long they. 
 
 91st 
 
 6th ,. 
 
 " the saints," 
 
 thy saints 
 
 :40th 
 
 26th 
 
 "men," 
 
 man. 
 
 .57th 
 
 28th 
 
 ;/ " man," 
 
 men. 
 
 n 
 
 31st 
 
 " the," 
 
 thee. 
 
 /17th , 
 
 26th 
 
 "temporarily," 
 
 temporally 
 
 68th 
 
 15th 
 
 '.'temporarily," 
 
 temporally 
 
 72nd 
 
 3rd 
 
 "my," 
 
 thy. 
 
 CLAXTON MAR. 10*1 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface to the Second European Edition . . v 
 Ditto First American ditto . . ix 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 On Prophecy already Fulfilled . . . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 On the Fulfilment of Prophecy yet future . . 34 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Kingdom of God 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Book of Mormon Origin of the 
 
 American Indians, etc. . . . . . . 91 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Resurrection of the Saints, and the 
 Restoration of all things spoken by 
 the Prophets 132 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Dealings of God with all Nations, in 
 
 regard to Kevelation 176 
 
 CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 A Contrast between the Doctrine of 
 Christ, and the False Doctrines of 
 the nineteenth century . . . . . . 186 
 
PEE FACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EUROPEAN EDITION. 
 
 WHEN the following Work was first published 
 in America, in 1837, it was but little known, 
 and seemed to meet with little or no encourage- 
 ment. Months passed away, and very few 
 copies were sold or read. But, to the astonish- 
 ment of the author, it worked itself into notice 
 more and more, by the blessing of God, and 
 by virtue of its own real merits ; till, in two 
 years, the first edition, consisting of three 
 thousand copies, was all sold, and many more 
 were called for. A new edition was published 
 in 1839, consisting of two thousand five 
 hundred copies : these were also disposed of. 
 Other three editions have since been published, 
 making in all thirteen thousand copies now 
 disposed of, and the demand is still increasing 
 both in America and Europe. 
 
 It has already found its way into most of 
 
VI EUROPEAN PREFACE. 
 
 the American States, and into the provinces of 
 the Canadas, as well as many parts of England, 
 Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. It has visited 
 the cottages of the humble, and the parlours 
 of the great; and, from the best information 
 we have on the subject, very few have risen 
 from its perusal without a deep and settled 
 conviction of the truth of its principles. 
 
 The author has now in possession the testi- 
 mony of hundreds of people, from different 
 states and nations, all bearing witness that this 
 Work has been a means, in the hands of God, 
 of saving them from infidelity, from sectarian 
 error and delusion, and of guiding them into 
 the light of TRUTH. 
 
 All these considerations, and an intense de- 
 sire to impart the truth to mankind as widely 
 as possible, have induced the author to send 
 forth this new edition ; which he greatly de- 
 sires may prove a blessing to thousands who 
 are yet grovelling in darkness and superstition, 
 and lead them to the true fold of Grod. 
 
 If there be anything to admire, or anything 
 praiseworthy, in this Work, the author has no 
 
EUEOPEAN PREFACE. v 
 
 claim to the honour or the praise ; it is justly 
 due to him who is the Source and Fountain 
 of all TRUTH. The author was a husbandman, 
 inured to the plough unpolished by educa- 
 tion, untaught in the schools of modern Sec- 
 tarianism, (falsely called " Divinity") reared 
 in the wilds of America, with a mind indepen- 
 dent, untrammelled and free. He drank of 
 the pure fountain of Truth, unsullied and un- 
 mixed, as it unfolded in majesty of light and 
 splendour from the opening heavens in all the 
 simplicity of its nature. As such it has flowed 
 from his pen in the following volume ; not 
 veiled in mystery; not dressed in the pomp 
 of high sounding names, and titles, and learned 
 terms ; not adorned in the gay attire of elo- 
 quence flowing from the imagination and the 
 passions ; but standing forth in the undress of 
 its own native modesty, as if conscious of the 
 purity and innocence of its nature. 
 
 He is indebted not only to the Spirit of 
 Truth for the principles contained in this 
 Work, but also to several men, who have been 
 made the instruments in the hands of God to 
 
Vlll EUROPEAN PREFACE, 
 
 reveal the knowledge of God to this gene- 
 ration, and to be the founders and leaders of 
 the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
 
 Among the foremost of these, he would 
 make honourable mention of President Joseph 
 Smith, by whose instrumentality most of these 
 glorious truths (so well known to the ancients) 
 have been restored to the knowledge of the 
 world and whose zeal, labours, sufferings, 
 and subsequent murder will stand forth as a 
 bright memorial to all succeeding ages, and 
 be celebrated by happy millions yet unborn. 
 
 With an assurance that the principles of 
 this Work will yet prevail over the whole 
 earth, this new edition of the VOICE OF WARN- 
 ING is now sent forth ; and should the author 
 be called to sacrifice his life for the cause of 
 truth, he will have the consolation that it will 
 be said of him, as it was said of Abel, viz., 
 
 " HE, BEING DEAD, YET SPEAKETH." 
 
 PARLEY P. PRATT. 
 
 Manchester, England . 
 Dec. 4, 184^, 
 
PEE FACE 
 
 TO THE FIKST AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 DURING the last nine years, the public mind 
 has been constantly agitated, more or less, 
 through all parts of our country, with the cry 
 of "Mormonism, Mormonism, Delusion, Im- 
 posture, Fanaticism," &c., chiefly through the 
 instrumentality of the press. Many of the 
 newspapers of the day have been constantly 
 teeming with misrepresentations and slanders 
 of the foulest kind, in order to destroy the in- 
 fluence and character of an innocent society 
 in its very infancy ; a society of whose real 
 principles many of them know nothing at all. 
 Every species of wickedness has been resorted 
 to, and all manner of evil has been spoken 
 against them falsely ; insomuch that in many 
 places houses and ears are closed against them, 
 without the possibility of being heard for a 
 moment. Were this the only evil, we might 
 
X AMERICAN PEEFAOE. 
 
 have less cause of complaint ; but in conse- 
 quence of this, we have been assaulted by 
 mobs, some of our houses have been torn down 
 or burned, our goods destroyed, and fields of 
 grain laid waste. Yea, more some of us have 
 been stoned, whipped, and shot ; our blood has 
 been caused to flow, and still smokes to 
 heaven, because of our religious principles, in 
 this our native land, the boasted land of liberty 
 and equal laws ! while we have sought in vain 
 for redress. Officers of state have been deaf to 
 the voice of Innocence, imploring at their feet 
 for justice and protection in the enjoyment of 
 their rights as American citizens. 
 
 Under these circumstances, what could be 
 done ? How were we to correct the public 
 mind ? We were few in number, and our 
 means of giving information very limited ; the 
 columns of most of the papers were closed 
 against us, their popularity being at stake the 
 moment our principles were admitted. It is 
 true we published a monthly paper, in which 
 our principles were clearly set forth : but its 
 circulation was limited to a few thousands. 
 
AMEEICAN PREFACE. XI 
 
 Under these circumstances, had we the tongue 
 of angels, and the zeal of apostles, with our 
 hearts expanded wide as eternity, with the in- 
 telligence of heaven and the love of God 
 burning in our bosoms, and commissioned to 
 bear as joyful tidings as ever were borne by 
 Michael, the Archangel, from the regions of 
 glory; yet it would have been as impossible 
 for us to have communicated the same to the 
 public, as it was for Paul, when he stood in 
 the midst of Ephesus, to declare the glad tidings 
 of a crucified and risen Redeemer, when his 
 voice was lost amid the universal cry of ' ' Great 
 is Diana of the Ephesians." Go, lift your voice 
 to the tumultuous waves of the ocean, or try to 
 reason amid the roar of cannon while the tumult 
 of war is gathering thick around, or speak to 
 the howling tempest while it pours a deluge 
 over the plains : let your voice be heard amid 
 the roar of chariots rushing suddenly over the 
 pavements ; or, what is still less useful, converse 
 with a man who is lost in slumbers, or reason 
 with a drunkard while he reels to and fro under 
 the influence of the intoxicating poison, and 
 
Xll AMERICAN PKEFACE. 
 
 these will convince you of the impossibility of 
 communicating truth to that soul who is wil- 
 ling to make up his judgment upon popular 
 rumour, or to be wafted gently down the current 
 of public opinion, without stopping for a 
 moment to listen, to weigh, to hear both sides 
 of the question, and judge for himself. 
 
 One of the greatest obstacles in the way of 
 the spread of the truth, in every age, is the tide 
 of public opinion. Let one ray of light burst 
 upon the world in any age, and it is sure to 
 come in contact with the traditions and long- 
 established usages of men, and their opinions ; 
 or with some religious craft, so that, like the 
 Ephesians, they counsel together what shall be 
 done ; their great goddess will be spoken against, 
 her magnificence despised, her temple deserted ; 
 or, what is still worse, their craft is in danger, 
 for by this they have their wealth. Call to 
 mind the Apostles, in contact with the Jewish 
 Rabbis, or with G-entile superstitions ; in short, 
 at war with every religious establishment on 
 the earth. Witness the popular clamour ; 
 " If we let them thus alone, all men will be- 
 
AMERICAN PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 lieve on them, and the Romans will come and 
 take away our place and nation." "These 
 men that turn the world upside down have 
 .come hither also." " What new doctrine is 
 this ? for thou bringest certain strange things 
 to our ears." " These men do exceedingly 
 trouble our city, and teach customs which are 
 not lawful for us to receive, being Romans." 
 " What will this babbler say ? he seems to be 
 a setter forth of strange gods." And many 
 other such like sayings. 
 
 Or, let us for a moment contemplate the 
 events of later date ; for instance, the Mother 
 Church against the reformers of various ages ; 
 see them belied, slandered, degraded, whipped, 
 stoned, imprisoned, burned, and destroyed in 
 various ways, while the ignorant multitude 
 were made to believe they were the very worst 
 of men. Again, think for a moment of the 
 struggles of Columbus, an obscure individual 
 of limited education, but blessed with a large- 
 ness of heart, a noble genius, a mind which 
 disdained to confine itself to the old beaten 
 track; accustomed to think for itself, it burst 
 
XIV AMERICAN PREFACE. 
 
 the chains which, in ages past, had held in 
 bondage the nations of the earth ; it soared aloft, 
 as it were on eagle's wings ; it outstripped and 
 left far behind the boasted genius of Greece 
 and Rome ; it penetrated the dark mysteries 
 which lay concealed amid the western waters. 
 Behold him struggling for eight years against 
 the learned ignorance of the courts aud councils 
 of Europe, while the sneer of contempt, the 
 finger of scorn, and the hiss of derision were 
 the solid arguments opposed to his theory. 
 But what was the result, when, after many a 
 fruitless struggle, an expedition was fitted out 
 consisting of three small vessels ? A new 
 world presented itself to the wondering nations 
 of the East, destined at no distant period to 
 become the theatre of the most glorious and 
 astonishing events of the last days. This fact 
 was no sooner demonstrated than their philo- 
 sophical, geographical, and religious objections 
 vanished in a moment ; haughty ignorance and 
 bigotry were for once constrained to cast their 
 honours in the dust, and bow their reverend 
 heads at the feet of real worth, and learn, in 
 
AMEKICAN PREFACE. XV 
 
 humble silence, that one fact, clearly demon- 
 strated, was worth ten thousand theories and 
 opinions of men. 
 
 Having said so much to impress upon the 
 human mind the necessity of hearing, and then 
 judging, I would only add, that the object of 
 this publication is to give the public correct 
 information concerning a religious system, 
 which has penetrated every State from Maine 
 to Missouri, as well as the Canadas, in the 
 short space of nine years ; organizing Churches 
 and Conferences in every region, and gathering 
 in its progress from fifty to a hundred thousand 
 disciples ; having, at the same time, to sustain 
 the shock of an overwhelming religious influ- 
 ence, opposed to it by the combined powers 
 of every sect in America. What but the arm 
 of Omnipotence could have moved it forward 
 amid the rage of mobs ? having to contend 
 with the prejudice of the ignorant and the pen 
 of the learned ; at war with every creed and craft 
 in Christendom; while the combined powers of 
 earth and hell were hurling a storm of persecu- 
 tion, unparalleled in the history of our country. 
 
XVI AMERICAN PREFACE. 
 
 This Work is also intended as a warning 
 voice, or proclamation of truth, to all people 
 into whose hands it may fall, that they may 
 understand, and be prepared for the great day 
 of the Lord. Opinion and guess-work in the 
 things of God are worse than useless ; facts, 
 well demonstrated, can aione be of service to 
 mankind. And as the Holy Ghost can alone 
 guide us into all truth, we pray God the Eter- 
 nal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ His 
 Son, that the Spirit of Truth may inspire our 
 heart in inditing this matter ; that we may be 
 able to write the truth in demonstration of the 
 Spirit and of power, that it may be the word 
 of God, the everlasting Gospel, the power of 
 God unto salvation, to the Gentile first, and 
 also to the Jew. 
 
A VOICE OF WAENING 
 
 AND 
 
 INSTKUCTION TO ALL PEOPLE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ON PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 " We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye 
 do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark 
 place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts : 
 knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any 
 private interpretation ; for the prophecy came not in old time 
 by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost." PETER. 
 
 IN order to prove anything from Scripture, it is 
 highly necessary in the first place to .lay down 
 some certain, definite, infallible rule of interpre- 
 tation, without which the mind is lost in uncer- 
 tainty and doubt, ever learning, and never able 
 to come to the knowledge of the truth. 
 
 The neglect of such a rule has thrown mankind 
 into the utmost confusion and uncertainty in all 
 their biblical researches. Indeed, while mankind 
 are left at liberty to transform, spiritualize, or 
 give any uncertain or private interpretation to the 
 word of God, all is uncertainty. 
 
 " Whatsoever was written aforetime was 
 written for our profit and learning, that we 
 though patience and comfort of the Scriptures, 
 might have hope. Now, suppose a Mend from 
 
 B 
 
2 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 a distance should write us a letter, making certain 
 promises to us on certain conditions, which, if 
 obtained, would be greatly to our profit and 
 advantage ; of course it might be said the letter 
 was written for our profit and learning, that 
 through patience and comfort of the letter we 
 might have hope to obtain the things promised. 
 Now, if we clearly understood the letter, and 
 knew what to expect, then it would afford us 
 comfort and hope; whereas, if there was any 
 doubt or uncertainty on our minds in the under- 
 standing of the same, then could we derive no 
 certain comfort or hope from the things written, 
 not knowing what to hope for ; consequently the 
 letter would not profit us at all. And so it is 
 with the Scriptures. No prophecy or promise 
 will profit the reader, or produce patience,, 
 comfort, or hope in his mind, until clearly 
 understood, that he may know precisely what to 
 hope for. Now, the predictions of the Prophets 
 can be clearly understood, as much so as the 
 almanac, when it foretells an eclipse, or else 
 the Bible of all books is of most doubtful useful- 
 ness. Far better would it have been for mankind, 
 if the great Author of our existence had revealed 
 nothing to his fallen creatures, than to have 
 revealed a book which would leave them in 
 doubt and uncertainty, to contend with one 
 another, from age to age, respecting the meaning 
 of its contents. That such uncertainty and 
 contention have existed for ages, none will deny. 
 The wise and learned have differed, and do still 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 8 
 
 widely differ, from each other, in the understand- 
 ing of prophecy. Whence then this difference? 
 Either Revelation itself is deficient, or else the 
 fault is in mankind. But to say Revelation is 
 deficient would he to charge God foolishly ; God 
 forbid; the fault must be in man. There are 
 two great causes for this blindness, w T hich I will 
 now show : 
 
 First, mankind have supposed that direct in- 
 spiration by the Holy Ghost was not intended 
 for all ages of the Church, but confined to 
 primitive tunes ; the "Canon of Scripture being 
 full," and all things necessary being revealed, 
 the Spirit which guides into all truth was no 
 longer for the people; therefore they sought to 
 understand, by their own wisdom, and by their 
 own learning, what could never be clearly under- 
 stood, except by the Spirit of truth, for the things 
 of God knoweth no man, except by the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 Secondly, having lost the Spirit of Inspiration, 
 they began to institute their own opinions, 
 traditions, and commandments ; giving construc- 
 tions and private interpretations to the written 
 word, instead of believing the things written. 
 And the moment they departed from its literal 
 meaning, one man's opinion, or interpretation, 
 was just as good as another's; all were clothed 
 with equal authority, and from thence arose all 
 the darkness and misunderstanding on these 
 points, which have agitated the world for the last 
 seventeen hundred years. 
 
4 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 Among the variety of commodities which 
 attract the attention of mankind, there is one 
 thing of more value than all others. A principle 
 which, if once possessed, would greatly assist in 
 obtaining all other things worth possessing, 
 whether it were power, wealth, riches, honours, 
 thrones, or dominions. Comparatively few have 
 ever possessed it, although it was within the 
 reach of many others, but they were either not 
 aware of it, or did not know its value. It has 
 worked wonders for the few who have possessed 
 it. Some it enabled to escape from drowning, 
 while every soul who did not possess it was lost 
 in the mighty deep. Others it saved from 
 famine, while thousands perished all around 
 them; by it men have often been raised to 
 dignit}^ in the state ; yea, more, some have been 
 raised to the throne of empires. The possession 
 of it has sometimes raised men from the dungeon 
 to a palace; and there are instances in which 
 those that possessed it were delivered from 
 the flames, while cities were consumed, and 
 every soul, themselves excepted, perished. 
 Frequently, when a famine or the sword has 
 destroyed a city or nation, they alone who pos- 
 sessed it escaped unhurt. By this time the reader 
 inquires, What can that thing be? Inform me, 
 and I will purchase it, even at the sacrifice of all 
 I possess on earth. Well, kind reader, this trea- 
 sure is FOREKNOWLEDGE; a knowledge of things 
 future! Let a book be published, entitled, "A 
 Knowledge of the Future," and let mankind be 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 5 
 
 really convinced that it did give a certain, definite 
 knowledge of future events, so that its pages un- 
 folded the future history of the nations, and of 
 many great events, as the history of Greece or 
 Rome unfolds the past, and a large edition would 
 immediately sell at a great sum per copy ; indeed, 
 they would be above all price. Now, kind 
 reader, the books of the Prophets and the spirit 
 of prophecy were intended for this very purpose. 
 Well did the Apostle say, " Covet earnestly the 
 best gifts ; but rather that ye prophesy." 
 
 Having said so much, we will now enter into 
 the wide expanded field which lies before us, and 
 search out the treasures of wisdom and knowledge 
 which have been shining for ages like a light in 
 a dark place. We will explore regions unknown 
 to many we will gaze upon the opening glories 
 which present themselves on every side, and 
 feast our souls with knowledge which is calcu- 
 lated in its nature to enlarge the heart, to exalt 
 the mind, and to raise the affections above the 
 little, mean, grovelling things of the world, and 
 to make one wise unto salvation. 
 
 But, first, for the definite rule of interpretation. 
 For this we will not depend on any man or com- 
 mentary, for the Holy Grhost has given it by the 
 mouth of Peter. " Knowing this first, that no 
 prophecy of the Scripture is of any private inter- 
 pretation." 2 Peter i. 20. 
 
 There is one grand division to be kept con- 
 stantly in view in the study of prophecy, namely, 
 the distinction between the past and the future. 
 
H PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 The reader should be careful to ascertain what 
 portion has been fulfilled, and what remains to 
 be fulfilled ; always remembering Peter's rule of 
 interpretation will apply to both. Now, if we 
 should find in our researches that every prophecy 
 which has been fulfilled to this present year has 
 been literally fulfilled, then it follows of necessity 
 that every prophecy which is yet future will not 
 fail of -a literal fulfilment. Let us commence 
 with the days of Noah. Gen. vi. 17. "And 
 behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon 
 the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the 
 breath of life, from under heaven; and every 
 thing that is in the earth shall die." 
 
 In the verses which follow the above, the Lord 
 commands Noah to enter the ark, and take with 
 him animals of every land, &c. And in the 
 22nd verse it is written, " Thus did Noah ; ac- 
 cording to all that God commanded him, so did 
 he." It was well for Noah that he was not well 
 versed in the spiritualizing systems of modern 
 divinity ; for, under their benighted influence, he 
 would never have believed that so marvellous a 
 prophecy would have had a literal meaning and 
 accomplishment. No ; he would have been told 
 that the flood meant a spiritual flood, and the 
 Ark a spiritual Ark, and the moment he thought 
 otherwise, he would have been set down for a 
 fanatic, knave, or fool; but it was so, that he 
 was just simple enough to believe the prophecy 
 literally. Here, then, is a fair sample of fore- 
 knowledge; for all the world, who did not possess 
 it, perished by the flood. 
 
PROPHECY ALRKADY FULFILLED. 7 
 
 The next prediction we will notice is Gen. xv. 
 13 16. "And he said unto Abraham, know of 
 a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a 
 land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and 
 they shall afflict them four hundred years. And 
 also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I 
 judge ; and afterwards shall they come out with 
 great substance. And thou shalt go to thy 
 fathers in peace; thou shalt be" buried in a 
 good old age ; but in the fourth generation they 
 shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the 
 Amorites is not yet full." 
 
 The evil-entreating of the children of Israel 
 four hundred years, together with their coming 
 out with great substance, and the judgments of 
 God upon Egypt, as well as the death of Abra- 
 ham in a good old age, are all facts too. well 
 known to need comment here ; suffice it to say, 
 that it is a stiildng example of the exact fulfil- 
 ment of prophecy, uttered more than four hundred 
 years before it had its ace mplishment. From 
 this we gather that none of those ancient men 
 knew anything of the modern system of spiritual- 
 izing. Our next is Gen. xix. 12, 13. " And 
 the men said unto Lot, Hast thou hsre any 
 besides? son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy 
 daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, 
 bring them out of this place : for we will destroy 
 this place, because the cry of them is waxen 
 great before the face of the Lord ; and the Lord 
 hath sent us to destroy it." Now Lot, being 
 simple enough to believe the thing in its literal 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 sense, took as many of his family as would 
 follow, and escaped for his life ; to the great 
 amusement, no doubt, of the Sodomites, who 
 probably stood gazing, after crying ''Delusion, 
 delusion!" they thinking all the while that the 
 prophecy was only a figure. Here is an example 
 of a man escaping from the flames by foreknow- 
 ledge imparted to him, while the whole city 
 perished. O ! what a blessing that Lot had no 
 knowledge of the modern manner of interpreting 
 prophecy. If it had once entered his heart that 
 he must come out of Sodom spiritually, instead 
 of literally, it would have cost him his life. 
 
 Let us examine a prophecy of Joseph in the 
 land of Egypt. Gen. xli. 2931. "Behold, 
 there come seven years of great plenty throughout 
 all the land of Egypt : and there shall arise after 
 them seven years of famine ; and all the plenty 
 shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt ; and the 
 famine shall consume the land : and the plenty 
 shall not be known in the land by reason of that 
 famine following ; for it shall be very grievous." 
 Joseph then proceeds to give directions for corn 
 to be laid up in great abundance during the seven 
 plenteous years, in order to provide against the 
 famine. And Pharaoh, being no better versed 
 in the school of modern divinity than his prede- 
 cessors, never once thought of any other inter- 
 pretation but the most literal. And thus he was 
 the means, together with Joseph, in the hand of 
 God, of saving, not only their nation, but the 
 house of Israel, from famine. This is another 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 striking example of the power of foreknowledge. 
 It not only saved from famine, but it exalted 
 Joseph from a dungeon to a palace; from the 
 lowest degradation to the highest honour; so 
 that they cried before him, "Bow. the knee." 
 But, Oh ! what death and mourning would have 
 followed had they dreamed only of spiritual 
 famine and spiritual corn. 
 
 Having given a few plain examples of early 
 ages, we will lightly touch upon some of the most 
 remarkable events of prophecy and its fulfilment, 
 until we come down to the Jewish Prophets, 
 where the field opens wide, touching in its pro- 
 gress the most remarkable events of all ages, and 
 terminating in a full development of the opening 
 glories of the last days. 
 
 One remarkable instance, concerning Elijah the 
 Prophet, was, that he prophesied to Ahab that it 
 should not rain for three years and upwards; 
 which came to pass according to his word. 
 There is also a remarkable instance of Hazael, 
 the Syrian, who came to Elisha to inquire of the 
 Lord concerning the king of Syria, his master, 
 who was sick. The Prophet, earnestly beholding 
 him, burst into tears: and Hazael asked him, 
 saying, "Why weepest thou?" and he, answer- 
 ing, said, "The Lord hath shewed me that thou 
 shalt be king over Syria." And he then proceeded 
 to unfold unto him the cruelties which he would 
 afterwards exercise towards Israel, which are too 
 horrible to mention here, lest in so doing I might 
 offend the delicate ear. But Hazael, astonished 
 
10 PBOPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 to hear these things predicted concerning himself, 
 which at that time filled him with horror, ex- 
 claimed with surprise, "But what ! is thy servant 
 a dog, that he should do this great thing?" Yet, 
 astonishing to tell, all was afterwards fulfilled to 
 the very letter. 
 
 In the % 2lst chap. 2 Chron., it is written, that 
 there came a writing to Jehoram from Elijah, 
 which after stating the great wickedness of which 
 he had been guilty, in turning to idolatry, and 
 also murdering his brethren of his father's house, 
 who were better than himself, proceeds thus : 
 " Behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite 
 thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and 
 all thy goods ; and thou shalt have great sickness 
 by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall 
 out, by reason of the sickness day by day." In 
 the same chapter it is written, that the Philistines 
 and Arabians came against him, and took his 
 wives, and children, and goods captive; and, 
 after all this, the Lord smote him in his bowels 
 with an incurable disease, and his bowels fell out 
 by reason of his sickness, so that he died of sore 
 disease. 
 
 In the 6th chapter of Joshua, 26th verse, there 
 is a .wonderful prediction concerning Jericho: 
 "Cursed be the man before the Lord, that 
 riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho. He 
 shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, 
 and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates 
 of it." 
 
 After this curse the city of Jericho lay waste 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 11 
 
 for ages, none daring to rebuild it at the expense 
 of their first -born and of their youngest son ; 
 until after a long succession of judges and kings, 
 when hundreds of years had passed, Hiel, the 
 Bethelite, who lived in the days of Ahab, probably 
 supposing that the Lord had forgotten the curse 
 pronounced upon it by Joshua, ventured to 
 re -build the city ; but no sooner had he laid the 
 foundation thereof than Abiram, his first-born, 
 died, and still persevering in the hardness of his 
 heart, he set up the gates thereof, with the loss 
 of his 3 r ouiigest son, Segub, according to the 
 word of the Lord by Joshua ; see 1 Kings xvi. 
 34. We might fill a volume with instances of a 
 similar kind, dispersed through the historical 
 part of the Scriptures ; but we forbear, in order 
 to hasten to a more full examination of the books 
 of the Jewish Prophets. We shall trace them in 
 their fulfilment upon Jerusalem, Babylon, Tyre, 
 Egypt, and various other nations. 
 
 Babylon, the most ancient and renowned city 
 of the world, was pleasantly situated on the banks 
 of a majestic river, that flowed through the 
 plains of Shinar, near to which the tower of 
 Babel once stood. It was laid out four-square, 
 and surrounded with a wall upwards of three 
 hundred feet high, and sixty miles in circum- 
 ference; having a hundred gates of brass, with 
 bars of iron; twenty-five gates on each side, 
 which opened to streets running through the 
 city a distance of fifteen miles ; thus forming the 
 whole city into exact squares of equal size. In 
 
12 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 the midst of these squares were "beautiful gardens, 
 adorned with trees and walks, diversified with 
 flowers of varied hue ; while the houses were 
 built upon the borders of the squares, directly 
 fronting on the streets. In the midst of this city 
 sat Nebuchadnezzar, enthroned in royal splendour 
 and magnificence, and swaying his sceptre over 
 all the kingdoms of the world, when it pleased 
 God, in a vision of the night, to unveil the dark 
 curtain of the future, and to present before him, 
 at one view, the history of the world, even down 
 to the consummation of all things. Behold ! a 
 great image stood before him, whose head was of - 
 fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly 
 and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet and 
 toes part of iron and part of miry clay. He 
 beheld, till a stone was cut out of the mountain 
 without hands, which smote the image upon the 
 feet, which were part of iron and part of clay, 
 and brake them in pieces ; then was the iron, the 
 brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces 
 together, and became as the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floor, and the wind carried them away, 
 and there was no place found for them ; but the 
 stone which smote the image became a great 
 mountain, and filled the whole earth. When 
 Daniel was brought in before the king, to tell the 
 dream and the interpretation, he exclaimed, 
 " There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, 
 and maketh known to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 what shall be in the latter days." Then, 
 after telling the dream, he continues thus : 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 13 
 
 " Thou, king, art a king of kings ; for the 
 God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, 
 power, and strength, and glory. And where- 
 soever the children of men dwell, the beasts of 
 the field, and the fowls of the heaven, hath he 
 given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler 
 over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And 
 after thee shall arise another kingdom, inferior to 
 thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which 
 shall bear rule over all the earth. And the 
 fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: foras- 
 much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all 
 things : and as iron that breaketh all these shall 
 it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou 
 sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay, and 
 part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided ; but 
 there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, 
 forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with 
 miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were 
 part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom 
 shall be partly strong and partly broken. And 
 whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 
 they shall mingle themselves with the seed of 
 men ; but they shall not cleave one to another, 
 even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the 
 days of these kings shall the God of heaven set 
 up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed : 
 and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, 
 tout it shall break in pieces and consume all these 
 kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Foras- 
 much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out 
 of the mountain without hands, and that it brake 
 
14 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, 
 and the gold, the great God hath made known 
 to the king what shall come to pass hereafter ; 
 and the dream is certain, and the interpretation 
 thereof sure." 
 
 In this great view of the suhject we have 
 presented before us, in succession, first, the king- 
 dom of Nebuchadnezzar; second, the Medes and 
 Persians, who took Babylon from Balshazzar, and 
 reigned over all the earth; third, the Greeks, 
 under Alexander, who conquered the world, and 
 reigned in the midst of Babylon ; and fourth, the 
 Roman empire, which subdued all things ; fifth, 
 its division into eastern and western empires, and 
 its final breaking up or subdivision into the various 
 kingdoms of modern Europe, represented by the 
 feet and toes, part of iron and part of clay. And 
 lastly, we have presented before us an entirely new 
 kingdom, organized by the God of heaven in the 
 last days, or during the reign of these kings, 
 represented by the feet and toes. This last 
 kingdom was never to change masters, like all the 
 kingdoms which had gone before it. It was 
 never to be left to other people. It was to break 
 in pieces all these kingdoms, and stand for ever. 
 Many suppose that this last kingdom alluded to 
 was the kingdom of God which was organized 
 in the days of Christ or his apostles. But a 
 greater blunder could not exist ; the kingdom of 
 God set up in the days of Christ, or of his apos- 
 tles, did not break in pieces any of the kingdoms 
 of the world ; it was itself warred, against and 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 15 
 
 overcome, in fulfilment of the words of Daniel, 
 7th chapter, 21st verse, "I beheld, and the same 
 horn made war with the saints, and prevailed 
 against them ;" also, 22nd verse, "Until the 
 Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given 
 to the saints of the Most High: and the time 
 came that the saints possessed the kingdom;" 
 also verse 27th, " And the kingdom and dominion, 
 and the greatness of the kingdom, under the 
 whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the 
 saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an 
 everlasting kingdom ; and all dominions shall 
 serve and obey him." 
 
 John records, Rev. xiii. 7, " And it was given 
 unto him to make war with the saints, and to 
 overcome them ; and power was given him over 
 all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." In fulfil- 
 ment of these sayings, power has been given to the 
 authorities of the earth to kill the Apostles and 
 inspired men, until, if any remained, they were 
 banished from among men, or forced to retire to 
 the desolate islands, or the dens and caves of the 
 mountains of the earth, being men of whom the 
 Avorld was not worthy ; while, at the same time, 
 many false prophets and teachers were introduced 
 in their place, whom men heaped to themselves, 
 because they would not endure sound doctrine. 
 In this way the kingdom of God became disor- 
 tiaidzed, and lost from among men, and the 
 doctrines and churches of men instituted in its 
 place But we design to speak more fully on this 
 subject when we come to treat on the subject of 
 
16 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 tlie kingdom of God. Suffice it to say, that the 
 kingdom spoken of by Daniel is something to be 
 organized in the last days by the God of heaven 
 Himself, without the aid of human institutions or 
 the precepts of men. And, when once organized, 
 it will never cease to roll; all the powers of earth 
 and hell will not impede its progress, until at 
 length the Ancient of Days shall sit, and the Lord 
 Jesus will come in the clouds of heaven, with 
 power and great glory, as the King of kings, and 
 Lord of lords, and destroy all these kingdoms, 
 and give the kingdom, and the greatness of the 
 kingdom under the whole heaven, to the Saints. 
 Then there will be but one Lord, and His name 
 one, and He shall be King over all the earth. 
 
 We will now return to Nebuchadnezzar, whom 
 the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, calls His 
 servant, to execute His judgments upon the 
 nations. It seems that the Lord exalted this 
 great man, and made him a king of kings, and 
 lord of lords, arming him with His own sword, 
 and clothing him with power and authority, for 
 the express purpose of executing His judgments, 
 and scourging and humbling all the nations of 
 the earth. Jeremiah, chap, xxv., says, that 
 the Lord purposed to bring Nebuchadnezzar and 
 his army against Jerusalem, and against all the 
 nations round about, that he might bring them to 
 desolation and captivity for seventy years ; and 
 after seventy years, He would turn and punish the 
 king of Babylon and that nation for their iniquity. 
 Now, who can trace the history of the fulfilment 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 17 
 
 of these great events, so exactly pointed out by 
 Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and not be struck 
 with astonishment and wonder at the marvellous 
 gift of prophecy enabling men in those days to 
 read the history of the future as they read the 
 history of the past. Indeed, the reader of history 
 in the nineteenth century, holding in his hand 
 the history of the Babylonians, Medes and Per- 
 sians, Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, together 
 with that of the Jews, will hardly render himself 
 more familiar with the events which transpired 
 among those nations, than the Prophets were 
 seventy years previous to their accomplishment. 
 
 The Jews were reduced to subjection by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar; their city, Jerusalem, was burned, 
 together with their temple ; their princes, nobles, 
 and people were carried to Babylon, together with 
 all their holy things. All the particulars of this 
 destruction and captivity were distinctly foretold 
 by Jeremiah, and the time of its continuance, 
 viz. seventy years. After subduing the Jews, 
 the king of Babylon marched his army against 
 Tyre, the city of merchants, situated at the haven 
 of the sea, surrounded not only by the sea, but 
 by a strong wall. A hold so strong required . 
 the utmost skill and perseverence of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar and his whole army, who laboured inces- 
 santly for a long time, and at length succeeded 
 in taking Tyre, and bringing it into captivity for 
 seventy years. After which they returned and 
 established their city, for Jeremiah had previously 
 foretold the reduction of Tyre, its captivity of 
 
18 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 seventy years, and its restoration at the expiration 
 of that time. After the restoration of Tyre, the city 
 nourished for a time, but was afterwards reduced 
 to an entire desolation. Its ruined fragments 
 are seen to this day in the bottom of the sea; 
 its site has become a barren rock, only occupied 
 by poor fishermen. All this desolation, and even 
 its present appearance of desolate and perpetual 
 waste, were clearly pointed out by the Prophets. 
 
 But when the king of Babylon had succeeded 
 in taking Tyre, after many a bald head and peeled 
 shoulder, caused by the hard service of his army 
 in the siege, the Lord, by the mouth of Ezekiel, 
 promised to give the spoils of Egypt unto him, 
 for wages for his army, in order to pay him for 
 the great service wherewith he had served God, 
 against Tyre. Next, witness his war in the taking 
 of Egypt, and bringing it into captivity, until 
 the seventy years were accomplished. 
 
 And, finally, trace him executing the Lord's 
 vengeance and anger against Uz, upon the kings 
 of the Philistines, and Askelon, Azaah; Ekron, 
 Edorn, Moab, Ammon; Dedan, Tema, and Buz; 
 and upon the kings of Arabia, Zimri and Elam; 
 and upon all the kings of the Medes ; and upon 
 all the kings of the north, far and near; and 
 finally upon all the kingdoms of the world, who 
 were to be drunken, and spew, and fall to rise no 
 more, because of the sword which He would send 
 among them. But, when the Lord had accom- 
 plished all His mind on these nations, He purposed, 
 in turn, to punish this great monarch, and those 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 19 
 
 who succeeded him ; and also the city and nation 
 over which he reigned ; and finally to make it 
 perpetual desolations. And all this for their pride 
 and haughtiness. The Lord exclaims, " Shall 
 the axe boast itself against him that heweth 
 therewith, or shall the saw boast itself against 
 him that shaketh it?" &c. But, in order to trace 
 the events of the return of the Jews, and the other 
 nations, from their seventy years' captivity and 
 bondage, and the punishment of Babylon, another 
 and very different character from that of Nebu- 
 chadnezzar is introduced by the Prophets one 
 who is in Scripture termed the. Lord's anointed. 
 He may be considered one of the most extraor- 
 dinary characters that ever the heathen world 
 produced; his mildness, courage, perserverence, 
 success, and, above all, his strict obedience to 
 the command of that God which neither he nor 
 his fathers had known, all go to prove that Isaiah 
 was not mistaken when he called him by name, 
 as the Lord's anointed, to deliver the nations 
 from bondage, to scourge and subdue the greatest 
 city and monarchy that have at any time existed 
 on the earth, and to restore the Jews, and 
 rebuild the city and temple. Indeed, he was 
 one of those few, whom the world never produces, 
 except for extraordinary purposes. But let us 
 hear the Prophet's own description of him. Isaiah, 
 chapter xiv. ''Thus saith the Lord to his 
 anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have 
 holden to subdue nations before him : and I will 
 loose the loins of kings, to open before him the 
 
W PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. 
 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places 
 straight : I mil break in pieces the gates of brass, 
 and cut in sunder the bars of iron. And I will 
 give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden 
 riches of secret places, that thou mayest know 
 that I the Lord, which call thee by thy name, 
 am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's 
 sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called 
 thee by thy name : I have surnamed thee, though 
 thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there 
 is none else, there is 110 God beside me : I girded 
 thee, though thou has not known me : that they 
 may know, from the rising of the sun and from 
 the west, that there is none beside me." In the 
 13th verse, he says, " I have raised him up in righ- 
 teousness, and I will direct all his way : he shall 
 build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not 
 for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 The reader will bear in mind, that Isaiah lived 
 about one hundred years before the Jewish cap- 
 tivity, and one hundred and seventy years before 
 Cyrus caused their return. 
 
 Here I would pause and inquire, What power, 
 but the power of the great God, could enable 
 one man to call another by name, a century 
 before his birth, and also to foretell correctly the 
 history of his life ? What must have been his 
 wonder and astonishment, when, after many years 
 of wars and commotions, during which he marched 
 forth, conquering and to conquer, gathering as a 
 nest the riches of the nations, he at last pitched 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 21 
 
 his camp near the walls of the strongest hold in 
 all the earth? He gazed upon its walls of 
 upwards of three hundred feet in height, with its 
 gates of brass and its bars of iron ; the people 
 within feeling perfectly safe, with provisions 
 enough to last the inhabitants of the city for 
 several years. How could he think of taking 
 that city? Who would not have shrunk from such 
 an undertaking, unless inspired by the great 
 Jehovah ? But, turning the river Euphrates from 
 its course, and marching under the walls of the 
 city, in the dry bed of the river, he found himself 
 in possession of the city, without any difficulty ; 
 for Belshazzar, the king, was drinking himself 
 drunk, with his nobles and concubines, and that 
 too from the vessels of the house of the Lord, 
 which his father had taken from Jerusalem ; and 
 his knees had already smote together, with 
 horror, from the hand -writing on the wall which 
 Daniel had just been called in to interpret, giving 
 his kingdom to the Medes and Persian. Having 
 subdued this great monarchy, he seated himself 
 upon the throne of kingdoms ; and becoming fami- 
 liar with Daniel, he was, no doubt, introduced to 
 an acquaintance with the Jewish records, and 
 then the mystery was unfolded ; he could then 
 see that God had called him by name, that the 
 Almighty hand girded him for the battle, and 
 directed all his work ; he could then understand 
 why the treasures of the earth poured themselves 
 into his bosom, and why the loins of kings had 
 been unloosed before him, and why the gates of 
 
'>> PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLKJ). 
 
 brass had been opened, and the bars of iron burst 
 asunder. It was that he might know, that there 
 was a God in Israel, and none else, and that all 
 idols were as nothing ; that he might also restore 
 the Jews, and rebuild their city and temple, and 
 fulfil God's purposes upon Babylon. He accord- 
 ingly issued his proclamation to the Jews to 
 return, and for the nations to assist them in re- 
 building, for, said he, "God hath commanded 
 me to build him an house at Jerusalem." Ezra, 
 chap. i. 2, 3, says, "Thus saith Cyrus, king of 
 Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me 
 all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath 
 charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, 
 which is in Judea. Who is there among you of 
 . all his people ? his God be with him, and let him 
 go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build 
 the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the 
 God,) which is in Jerusalem." 
 
 What powerful argument, what mighty influ- 
 ence was it, which caused Cyrus to be convinced 
 that it was the God of heaven who dwelt at 
 Jerusalem, who alone was God, and who had 
 done all these things? He had not been tra- 
 ditioned in the belief of the true God, nor of the 
 holy Scriptures. Nay, he had ever been very 
 zealous in the worship of idols ; it was to idols 
 he looked for assistance in the former part of his 
 life. I reply, it w r as the power of God, made 
 manifest by prophecy and its fulfilment ; not in 
 a spiritualized sense, not in some obscure, uncer- 
 tain, or dark mysterious way, whicli was difficult 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 23 
 
 to be understood; but in positive, literal, plain 
 demonstration, which none could gainsay or resist. 
 Isaiah says that this was the object the Lord had 
 in view when he revealed such plainness. And 
 Cyrus manifested that it had the desired effect. 
 
 I would here remark that when we come to 
 treat of that part of prophecy which yet remains 
 to be fulfilled, we shall bring proof positive that 
 the heathen nations of the latter days are to be 
 convinced in the same way that Cyrus was ; that 
 is, there are certain events plainly predicted in 
 the Prophets, yet future, which, when fulfilled, 
 will convince all the heathen nations of the true 
 God, and they shall know that He hath spoken 
 and performed it. And all the great and learned 
 men of Christendom, and all societies, who put 
 any other than a literal construction on the word 
 of prophecy, shall stand confounded, and be con- 
 strained to acknowledge that all has come to pass 
 even as it is written. 
 
 But to return to our research of prophecy and 
 its fulfilment. The Prophets had not only pre- 
 dicted' the reduction of Babylon by Cyrus, but 
 they had denounced its fate through all ages, 
 until reduced to entire desolation, never to be 
 inhabited, not even as a temporary residence for 
 the wandering Arab ; " and the Arabian shall not 
 pitch tent there." See Isaiah xiii. 19 22. 
 
 Mr. Joseph Wolfe, the celebrated Jewish Mis- 
 sionary, while travelling in Chaldea, inquired of 
 the Arabs whether they pitched their tents among 
 the miiis of Babylon, to which they replied in 
 
24 PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 the negative, declaring their fears that, should 
 the} 7 " do so, Nimrod's ghost would haunt them. 
 Thus all the predictions of the Prophets concern- 
 ing that mighty city have been fulfilled. 
 
 Edom also presents a striking fulfilment of plain 
 and pointed predictions in the Prophets. These 
 predictions were pronounced upon Edom at a 
 time when its soil was very productive and well 
 cultivated, and everywhere abounding in nourish- 
 ing towns and cities. But now its cities have 
 become heaps of desolate ruins, only inhabited by 
 the cormorant, bittern, and by wild beasts, 
 serpents, &c., and its soil has become barren; 
 the Lord has cast upon it the line of confusion, 
 and the stones of emptiness, and it has been 
 waste from generation to generation, in express 
 fulfilment of the word of prophecy. 
 
 We will now give a passing notice of the vision 
 of Daniel, recorded in the 8th chaper of his 
 prophecies, concerning the ram and the goat. 
 The reader would do well to turn and read the 
 whole chapter; but we will more particularly 
 notice the interpretation, as it was given him by 
 Gabriel, recorded from the 19th to the 25th 
 verses. And he said, "I will make thee know 
 what shall be in the last end of the indignation, 
 for at the tune appointed the end shall be. The 
 ram which thou sawest having two horns, are the 
 kings of Media and Persia; and the rough 
 goat, is the king of Grecia; and the great horn 
 that is between his eyes, is the first king. Now 
 that being broken, whereas four stood up for it. 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 25 
 
 four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, 
 but not in his power. And in the latter tune of 
 their kingdom, when the transgressors are come 
 to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and 
 understanding dark sentences, shall stand up; 
 and his power shall be mighty, but not by his 
 own power, and he shall destroy wonderfully, 
 and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy 
 the mighty and the holy people ; and through 
 his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in 
 his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his 
 heart, and by peace shall destroy many ; he shall 
 also stand up against the Prince of princes ; but 
 he shall be broken without hand." In this vision 
 we have first presented the Medes and Per- 
 sians, as they were to exist until they were 
 conquered by Alexander the Great. Now, it is 
 a fact well known that this empire waxed 
 exceedingly great for some time after the death 
 of Daniel, pushing its conquests westward, north- 
 ward, and southward, so that none could stand 
 before it; until Alexander, the king of Grecia, 
 came from the west, with a small army of chosen 
 men, and attacked the Persians upon the banks of 
 the river, and plunging his horse in, and his 
 army following, they crossed, and attacked the 
 Persians, who stood to oppose them on the bank , 
 with many times their number; but, notwith- 
 standing their number, and their advantage of 
 the ground, they were totally routed, and the 
 Grecians proceeded to over-run and subdue the 
 country, beating the Persians in a number of 
 
 3 
 
2fi PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 pitched battles, until they were entirely subdued. 
 It is also well known that Alexander, the king 
 of Greece, went forth from nation to nation, 
 subduing the world before him, until, having 
 conquered the world, he died at Babylon, at 
 the age of thirty-two years. And thus, when he 
 had waxed strong, the great horn was broken, 
 and for it came up four notable ones toward the 
 four winds of heaven. His kingdom was divided 
 among four of his generals, who never attained 
 unto his power. Now, in the latter time of their 
 kingdom, when the transgression of the Jewish 
 nation was come to the full, the Roman power 
 destroyed the Jewish nation, took Jerusalem, 
 caused the daily sacrifice to cease; and not only 
 that, but afterwards destroyed the mighty and 
 holy people, that is, the Apostles and primitive 
 Christians, who were slain by the authorities 
 of Rome. 
 
 Now, let me inquire, Does the history of these 
 United States give a plainer account of past 
 events than Daniel's wisdom did of events which 
 were then future, and some of them reaching 
 down the stream of time for several hundred years, 
 unfolding events which no human sagacity could 
 possibly have foreseen? Man, by his own 
 sagacity, may accomplish many things; he may 
 plough the trackless ocean without wind or tide 
 in his favour; he may soar aloft a'niid the clouds 
 without the aid of wings; he may traverse the 
 land with astonishing velocity without the aid of 
 beasts; or he may convey his thoughts to his 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 2^ 
 
 fellow by the aid of letters. But there is a prin- 
 ciple which he can never attain to ; no, not even 
 by the wisdom of ages combined ; money will not 
 purchase it ; it comes from God only, and is 
 bestowed upon man as a free gift. Says the 
 Prophet to the idols, " Tell us ivhat shall be, that 
 we may know that ye are gods." 
 
 We will now proceed to show how exactly the 
 prophecies were fulfilled literally in the person 
 of Jesus Christ. " Behold," said the Prophet, 
 " a virgin shall conceive and bear a son." Again : 
 Bethlehem should be the place of his birth, 
 and Egypt, where he sojourned with his parents, 
 the place out of which he was to be called. He 
 turned aside to Nazareth, for it was written, 
 " He shall be called a Nazarene." He rode into 
 Jerusalem upon a colt, the foal of an ass, because 
 the Prophet had said, "Behold thy king cometh, 
 meek and lowly, riding upon a colt," &c. And 
 again saith the Prophet, " He shall be afflicted 
 and despised ; he shall be a man of sorrows, 
 and acquainted with grief; he shall be led as a 
 lamb to the slaughter, and, like a sheep dumb 
 before his shearers, so he opened not his mouth ; 
 in his humiliation his judgment was taken away ; 
 and who shall declare his generation, for his life 
 is taken from the earth. He was wounded for 
 our transgressions, and by his stripes we are 
 healed ; he was numbered with the transgressors ; 
 he made his grave with the rich." Not a bone 
 of him is broken ; they divide his raiment ; cast 
 lots for his vesture ; give him gall and vinegar 
 
',!* PftOPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED 
 
 io drink; betray him for thirty pieces of silver; 
 and finally, when it was finished, he rested in the 
 tomb until the third day, and then rose trium- 
 phant, without seeing corruption. Now, kind 
 reader, had you walked up and down with our 
 dear Redeemer during his whole sojourn in the 
 flesh, and had you taken pains to record the 
 particular circumstances of his life and death, 
 as they occurred from time to time, your history 
 would not be a plainer one than the Prophets 
 gave of him hundreds of years before he was 
 bom. There is one thing we would do well to 
 notice concerning the manner in which the Apos- 
 tles interpreted prophecy, and that is this : they 
 simply quoted it, and recorded its literal fulfil- 
 ment. By pursuing this course, they were enabled 
 to bring it home to the hearts of the people 
 in the Jewish synagogues, with such convincing 
 proof that they were constrained to believe the 
 supposed impostor whom they had crucified was 
 the Messiah. But had they once dreamed of 
 rendering a spiritualizing or uncertain application, 
 like the teachers of the present day, all would 
 have been uncertainty and doubt, and demon- 
 stration would have vanished from the earth. 
 
 Having taken a view of the Old Testament 
 Prophets, concerning prophecy and its fulfilment, 
 and having shewn clearly that nothing but a 
 literal fulfilment was intended, the objector may 
 inquire whether the same mode will apply to the 
 predictions contained in the New Testament. 
 We will therefore bring a few important instances 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 29 
 
 of prophecy, and its fulfilment, from the New 
 Testament ; after which we shall be prepared to 
 enter the vast field which is still future. One of 
 the most remarkable prophecies in sacred writ is 
 recorded by Luke, chap. xxi. 20 24. " And when 
 ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, 
 then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 
 Then let them which are in Judea flee to the 
 mountains, and let them which are in the midst 
 of it depart out ; and let not them that are in the 
 countries enter thereinto; for these be the days 
 of vengeance, that all things which are written 
 may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are 
 with child, and to them that give suck in those 
 days ; for there shall be great distress in the land, 
 and wrath upon this people ; and they shall fall 
 by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away 
 captive into all nations ; and Jerusalem shall be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times 
 of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This prophecy 
 involves the fate of Jerusalem, and the temple, 
 and the whole Jewish nation, for at least eighteen 
 hundred years. About the year seventy, the 
 Roman army compassed Jerusalem. The disci- 
 ples remembered the warning which had been 
 given them by their Lord and Master forty years 
 before, and fled to the mountains. The city of 
 Jerusalem was taken, after a long and tedious 
 siege, in which the Jews suffered the extreme of 
 famine, pestilence and the sword ; filling houses 
 with the dead, for want of a place to bury them; 
 while women ate their own children, for want of 
 
>0 PKOPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 
 
 all things. In this struggle there perished, in 
 Judea, near one million and a half of Jews, 
 besides those taken captive. Their country was 
 laid waste, their city burned, their temple des- 
 troyed, and the miserable remnant dispersed 
 abroad into all the nations of the earth ; in which 
 situation they have continued ever since, being 
 driven from one nation to another, often falsely 
 accused of the worst of crimes, for which they have 
 been banished and their goods confiscated. In- 
 deed, they have been mostly accounted as outlaws 
 among the various nations ; the soles of their feet 
 have found no rest, and they have been a hiss and 
 a bye-word; and the people have said, "These 
 are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth 
 out of His land." 
 
 During all this time the Gentiles have possessed 
 the land of Canaan, and trodden under foot the 
 holy city where their forefathers worshipped the 
 Lord. Now, in this long captivity, the Jews 
 have never lost sight of the promises respecting 
 their return. Their eyes have watched and failed 
 with longing for the day, when they might possess 
 again that blessed inheritance bequeathed to their 
 forefathers; when they might again rear their 
 city and temple, and re-establish their priesthood, 
 and worship as in days of old. Indeed they have 
 made several attempts to return, but were always 
 frustrated in all their attempts; for it was an 
 unalterable decree, that Jerusalem should be 
 trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of 
 the Gentiles should be fulfilled. On the subject 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULFILLED. 81 
 
 of this long dispersion, Moses and the Prophets 
 have written very plainly; indeed Moses even 
 mentioned the particulars of their eating their 
 children secretly in the siege, and in the straitness 
 wherewith their enemies should besiege them in 
 all their gates. Whoever will read the 28th of 
 Deuteronomy, will read the history of what has 
 befallen the Jews, foretold by Moses with all the 
 clearness that characterizes the history of past 
 events, and all this thousands of years before its 
 accomplishment. 
 
 Our next is found in Acts xxi. 10, 11, where a 
 Prophet named Agabus took Paul's girdle and 
 bound his own hands and feet, and said, " Thus 
 saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jeru- 
 salem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and 
 shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." 
 The fulfilment of this prediction is too well known 
 to need any description. We, therefore, proceed 
 to notice a prophecy of Paul, recorded in 2 Tim. 
 iv. 3, 4. " For the time will come, when they 
 will not endure sound doctrine, but, after their 
 own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, 
 having itching ears ; and they shall turn away 
 their ears from the truth, and shall be turned 
 unto fables." This prophecy has been fulfilled 
 to the very letter ; for it applies to every religious 
 teacher who has arisen from that day unto the 
 present, except those commissioned by direct 
 revelation, and inspired by the Holy Ghost. But, 
 to convince the reader of its full accomplishment, 
 we need only point to the numberless priests of 
 
'V2 PROPHECY ALREADY FFT,ri l.l.KH. 
 
 the day who preach for hire, and divine for money, 
 and who receive their authority from their fellow- 
 man ; and, as to the fables to which they are 
 turned, we need only to mention the spiritualizings 
 and private interpretations which salute our ears 
 from almost every religious press and pulpit. 
 
 But there is another prophecy of Paul well 
 worth our attention, as illustrative of the times 
 in which we live; it is found in the first five 
 verses of the 3rd chapter of ^nd Timothy : " This 
 know also, that in the last days perilous times 
 shall come ; for men shall be lovers of their own 
 selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
 disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, with- 
 out natural affection, truce -breakers, false accu- 
 sers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are 
 good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of 
 pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form 
 of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from 
 such turn away." From the last verse of this 
 quotation we learn to our astonishment that this 
 sum of awful wickedness applies to professors of 
 religion ONLY ; that is, this would be the charac- 
 ter of the (so-called) Christian part of community 
 in the last days. Do not startle, kind reader, 
 we do not make the application without proof 
 positive to the point, for, remember, non-profes- 
 sors have no form of godliness, but those ungodly 
 characters spoken of were to have a form of 
 godliness, denying the power thereof. But, if you 
 doubt Paul's testimony on the subject, look around 
 you, examine for yourselves. " By their fruits 
 
PROPHECY ALREADY FULL- TLLED. 38 
 
 ye shall know them." My heart is pained while 
 I write. Alas, has it come to this; has the spirit 
 of truth removed the veil of obscurity from the 
 last days, only to present us with the vision of a 
 fallen people; an apostate church, full of all 
 manner of abominations, and even despising those 
 who are good; while they themselves have 
 nothing left but the form of godliness, denying 
 the power of God ; that is, setting aside the direct 
 inspiration and supernatural gifts of the Spirit, 
 which ever characterize the Church of Christ? 
 Was it for this only that the Holy Spirit opened 
 to the view of holy men the events of unborn time, 
 enabling them to gaze upon the opening glories 
 of the latter days? Oh! ye Prophets and Apos- 
 tles, ye holy men of old, what have you done, if 
 you stop here ? if your prophetic vision only ex- 
 tended down the stream of time to the present 
 year? Alas! you have filled our minds with 
 sorrow and despair: the Jews you have left 
 wandering in sorrow and darkness, far from all 
 their hearts hold most dear on earth ; their land 
 a desolation, and their city and temple in ruins, 
 and they without the knowledge of the true 
 Messiah. The Gentiles, after partaking of the 
 root and fatness of the tame olive-tree, having 
 fallen, after the same example of unbelief, are left 
 without fruit, dead, plucked up by the roots, with 
 nought but a form of godliness ; while the powers 
 that characterized the ancient Church have fled 
 from among men. Is this the comsummation of 
 nil your labours ? \Vas it for this you searched, 
 
84 rnopiTKcy YH 
 
 toiled, bled, and died? I pause for a reply: if 
 you have a word of comfort yet in store, concern- 
 ing the future, let it quickly speak, lest our souls 
 should linger in the dark valley of sorrow and 
 despair. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 Wliat is Prophecy, but History reversed ? 
 
 HAVING made the discovery, and produced suf- 
 ficient proof that the prophecies, thus far, have 
 been LITERALLY fulfilled to the very letter, we 
 hope the reader will never lose sight of the same 
 rule with regard to those yet future. And, while 
 we stand upon the threshold of futurity, with the 
 wonders of unborn time about to open upon our 
 view, presenting before our astonished vision the 
 most mighty and majestic scenes, the most 
 astonishing revolutions, the most extraordinary 
 destructions, as well as the most miraculous dis- 
 plays of the power and majesty of Jehovah, in His 
 great restoration of His long dispersed covenant 
 people from the four quarters of the earth : I say, 
 as these scenes are about to open to our view, let 
 us bow before the great I AM, in the name of 
 Jesus, and pray in faith for his spirit to enlarge 
 our hearts and enlighten our minds, that we may 
 understand and believe all that is written, how- 
 
PROPHECY YET FI'TUBE. 35 
 
 ever miraculous it may be. But O ! kind reader, 
 whoever you are, if you are not prepared for 
 persecution, if you are unprepared to have your 
 name cast out as evil, if you cannot bear to be 
 called a knave, an impostor, or madman, or one 
 that hath a devil; or if you are bound by the 
 creeds of men to believe just so much and no 
 more, you had better stop here ; for if you were 
 to believe the things written in the Bible that are 
 yet to come, you will be under the necessity of 
 believing miracles, signs and wonders, revelations, 
 and manifestations of the power of God, even 
 beyond anything that any former generation has 
 witnessed ; yes, you will believe that the waters 
 will be divided, and Israel go through dry-shod, 
 as they journey to their own land, as they did in 
 the days of Moses ; for no man ever yet believed 
 the Bible, without believing and expecting such 
 glorious events in the latter days. And I will 
 now venture to say that a believer in the Bible 
 would be something that very few men have ever 
 seen in this generation, with all its boasted reli- 
 gion; for there is a great difference between 
 believing the book to be true when shut, and 
 believing the things therein written. It is now 
 considered in Christendom a great disgrace not 
 to believe the Bible when shut; but whosoever 
 tries the experiment will find it a greater disgrace 
 to believe that the things therein written will 
 surely come to pass. Indeed, it is our firm belief 
 in the things written in the Bible, and careful 
 teaching of them, that is one great cause of 
 
36 PROPHECY YET FUTUIt!,. 
 
 the persecution we suffer. For let the prophecies 
 be understood by the people, and let them roll 
 on in their fulfilment, and this will blow to' the 
 four winds every religious craft in Christendom, 
 and cause the kingdom of Christ to arise upon 
 their ruins, while the actual knowledge of the 
 truth will cover the earth as the waters do 
 the sea. 
 
 Having said so much by way of caution, if 
 there are any of my readers so bold, and regard- 
 less of consequences, as to dare with me to gaze 
 upon the future, we will commence with Isaiah, 
 chap. xi. 11, 12, 15, and 16 verses: "And it 
 shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall 
 set his hand again the second time to recover the 
 remnant of his people, which shall be left, from. 
 Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and 
 from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and 
 from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 
 
 "And he shall setup an ensign for the nations, 
 and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and 
 gather together the dispersed of Judah from the 
 four corners of the earth. 
 
 "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue 
 of the Egyptian sea ; and with his mighty wind 
 shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall 
 smite it in the seven streams, and make men go 
 over dry-shod. 
 
 " And there shall be an highway for the rem- 
 nant of his people, which shall be left, from 
 Assyria ; like as it was to Israel in the day that 
 he came up out of the land of Egypt." 
 
PROPHECY VET FUTURE. 37 
 
 Here you behold an ensign to be reared for the 
 nations ; not only for the dispersed of Judah, but 
 the outcasts of Israel. The Jews are called dis- 
 persed, because they are scattered among the na- 
 tions ; but the ten tribes are called outcasts, because 
 they are cast out from the knowledge of the nations, 
 into a land by themselves. Now, the reader will 
 bear in mind that the ten tribes have not dwelt 
 in the land of Canaan since they were led captive 
 by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. We have also 
 presented before us, in the 15th verse, the mar- 
 vellous power of God, which will be displayed in 
 the destruction of a small branch of the Rea Sea, 
 called the tongue of the Egyptian Sea ; and also 
 the dividing of the seven streams of some river, 
 and causing men to go over dry-shod ; and, lest 
 any should not understand it literally, the 15th 
 verse says, "there shall be a highway for the rem- 
 nant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria 
 like as it ivas to Israel when he came up out of 
 the land of Egypt" Now, we have only to ask 
 whether, in the days of Moses, the Red Sea was 
 literally divided ? or whether it was only a figure ? 
 for as it was then so it shall be again. And yet 
 we are told by modern divines that the days of 
 miracles have gone for ever ; and those who believe 
 in miracles, in our day, are counted as impostors, 
 or, at least, poor ignorant fanatics, and the public 
 are warned against them, as false teachers who 
 would, if possible, deceive the very elect. On the 
 subject of this restoration the Prophets have 
 spoken so fully and repeatedly, that we can only 
 
PROPHECY YET I'UTTRF. 
 
 notice a few of the most striking instances, which 
 will go to show the particular circumstances and 
 incidents attending it, and the manner and means 
 of its accomplishment. The 16th chapter of Jere- 
 miah, 14th, 15th, and 16th verses, says, "There- 
 fore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it 
 shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought 
 up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ; 
 hut. The Lord liveth, that brought up the children 
 of Israel from the land of the north, and from all 
 the lands whither he had driven them : and I 
 will bring them again into their land that I gave 
 unto their fathers. Behold, I mil send for many 
 fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them ; 
 and after will I send for many hunters, and they 
 shall hunt them from every mountain, and from 
 every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." 
 Now it has ever been the case with Israel, when 
 they wished to express the greatness of their God, 
 to say, The Lord liveth, which brought up our 
 fathers out of the land of Egypt. This saying 
 at once called to mind the power and miracles of 
 that memorable event, and associated with it all 
 that was great and grand, and was calculated to 
 strike the mind with awe, under a lively sense of 
 the power of Israel's God. But, to our astonish- 
 ment ! something is yet to transpire which will 
 cast into momentary forgetfulness all the great 
 events of that day, and the children of Israel 
 shall know that their God liveth, by casting their 
 minds upon events of recent date, which shall 
 have transpired, still more glorious and wonderful 
 
PROPHHCY YET FUTUftE. 39 
 
 than their coming out of Egypt. They will ex- 
 claim, The Lord liveth, which recently brought 
 the children of Israel from the north, and from 
 all lands whither he had driven them, and hath 
 planted them in the land of Canaan, which he 
 gave our fathers. With this idea will be associ- 
 ated every display of grandeur and sublimity, of 
 wonder and amazement; while they call to mind 
 the revelations, manifestations, miracles, and 
 mercies displayed in bringing about this great 
 event, in the eyes of all the nations 
 
 In view of this, Jeremiah exclaims, in the last 
 verse of this chapter, " Therefore, behold, I will 
 this once cause them to know, I will cause them 
 to know mine hand and my might ; and they shall 
 know that my name is The Lord." 
 
 But the means made use of to bring about this 
 glorious event are, not only the raising of a stand- 
 ard, the lifting up of an ensign, so that we may 
 know when the time is fulfilled, but fishers and 
 hunters are to be employed to fish and hunt them 
 from every mountain, from every hill, and out of 
 the holes of the rocks. Let the reader mark here : 
 men were not to send missionaries who were not 
 inspired, to go and teach Israel several hundred 
 different doctrines and opinions of men, and to tell 
 them they supposed the time had about arrived for 
 them to gather. But the God of Heaven is to call 
 men by actual revelation, direct from heaven, 
 and to tell them who Israel is ; who the Indians 
 of America are, if they should be of Israel ; and 
 also where the ten tribes are, and all the scattered 
 
40 PROPHKCY YKT FUTURE. 
 
 remnants of that long-lost people. He it is who 
 is to give them their errand and mission, and to 
 clothe them with power from on high to execute 
 the great work, in defiance of opposing elements, 
 and all the opposition of earth and hell combined. 
 But do you ask, "Why is the Lord to commission 
 men by actual revelation?" I reply, because he 
 lias no other way of sending men in any age. No 
 man, says the Apostle, taketh this honour upon 
 himself, but he that is called of God, as was 
 Aaron. Now, we all acknowledge that Aaron 
 was called by revelation. 
 
 Now the great Jehovah never did, nor ever 
 will, acknowledge the priesthood or ministry of 
 any man who is not called by revelation, and 
 inspired as in days of old. But, " O ! " says the 
 reader, " you startle me, for the whole train of 
 modern divines profess no revelation later than 
 the Bible, and no direct inspiration or supernatural 
 gift of the Spirit. Do you cast them all off, and 
 say that they have no authority?" I reply, No, 
 for the Bible does it, and I only humbly acquiesce 
 in the decision, as they are nowhere known in 
 Scripture, except as teachers whom the people 
 have heaped to themselves, (the word heap does 
 not mean a few, but many.) But, to prove more 
 fully that God will give revelations in order to 
 bring about this glorious work, we will refer you 
 to Ezekiel xx. 3338. It reads, " As I live, 
 saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, 
 and with a stretched-out arm, and with fury 
 poured out, will I rule over you ; and I will bring 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 41 
 
 you out from the people, and will gather you out 
 of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a 
 mighty hand, and. with a stretched-out arm, and 
 with fury poured out. And I will bring you into 
 the wilderness of the people, and there will I 
 plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded 
 with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of 
 Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord 
 God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, 
 and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant ; 
 and I will purge out from among you the rebels, 
 and them that transgress against me : I will bring 
 them forth out of the country where they sojourn, 
 and they shall not enter into the land of Israel ; 
 and ye shall know that I am the Lord." 
 
 You discover that this promise begins with a 
 double assurance ; first, with an oath, As I live ; 
 second, with an assurance, Surely, with a mighty 
 hand, &c. And, in the close of the same chapter, 
 lest the people should possibly misunderstand him, 
 he exclaims, " O Lord, they say of me, Doth he 
 not speak in parables?" Here we have the 
 children of Israel brought from among all nations, 
 with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and 
 with fury poured out, (O ye nations, who oppose 
 these things, beware, remember Pharaoh, and 
 learn wisdom,) we see them brought into the 
 wilderness of the people ; and there the Lord is to 
 plead with them, face to face, just as he did with 
 their fathers in the wilderness of Egypt. This 
 pleading face to face can never be done without 
 revelation, and a personal manifestation, as much 
 
K' PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 so as in old times. Now, I ask, Were all His 
 manifestations to Israel in the wilderness mere 
 fables, not to be understand liferally? If so, this 
 will be so too ; for one will be precisely like the 
 other, no parable, but a glorious reality. He 
 will cause them to pass under the rod, and bring 
 them into the bond of the covenant. This 
 brings to mind the new covenant so often 
 promised in the Scriptures, to be made with the 
 house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 
 just in time to gather them from their long 
 dispersion. Some may suppose that the new 
 covenant which was to gather Israel made its 
 appearance in the days of Christ and his Apostles. 
 But Paul tells us it was yet future in his day. So, 
 in his llth chapter to the Romans, he says "that 
 blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the 
 fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all 
 Israel shall be saved ; as it is written, There shall 
 come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn 
 away ungodliness from Jacob ; for this is my cove- 
 nant unto them when I shall take away their sins." 
 From this we learn that Paul placed that covenant 
 in the future, even down to the restoration of Israel, 
 in the last days, when the times of the Gentiles 
 should be fulfilled. Then there should come a 
 Deliverer for Israel, and not before, seeing that they 
 had rejected the first coming of that Deliverer. 
 And he himself said to the Jews, " Behold, your 
 house is left unto you desolate ; for I say unto you, 
 ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall sa,y, 
 Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 43 
 
 Then, and not until then, should the covenant be 
 renewed with Israel. And even when the Apostles 
 inquired, saying, " Wilt thou at this time restore 
 again the kingdom to Israel?" the Saviour made 
 answer, that it was not for them to know the 
 times and seasons which the Father had put in 
 his own power; but they were to receive power, 
 and bear witness of him, &c. ; as much as to say, 
 That work is not for you Apostles to accomplish, 
 but shall be done, in the Lord's own time, by 
 whom He will; but go ye and do the work I 
 have commanded you. 
 
 Again, Isaiah, Ixi. 8, 9, in speaking of this 
 covenant, tells us, that it should make their seed 
 known among the Gentiles, and their offspring 
 among the people ; and should cause all that see 
 them to acknowledge them that they are the seed 
 that the Lord hath blessed. Now, we know that 
 it is a question which can only be decided by Reve- 
 lation, whether the aborigines of America are the 
 seed of Jacob or not. Again, it is a matter of 
 uncertainty where the ten tribes are, or who they 
 are ; but the new covenant, whenever it makes its 
 appearance, will reveal these things, and will 
 leave the matter no longer in suspense ; we shall 
 then know their seed among the Gentiles, and 
 their offspring among the people. But, oh ! how 
 different was the effect of the covenant made 
 eighteen hundred years ago in its effects upon 
 Israel ; it cast them off in unbelief, and caused all 
 that have seen them or heard of them ever since 
 to acknowledge that they are the seed that the 
 
44 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 Lord hath cursed. When the covenant is renewed 
 in the last days, the Lord will bring them into 
 the bond of the covenant, by manifesting Himself 
 to them face to face. Let me inquire, How does 
 God make a covenant with the people in any 
 age ? The answer is, By communicating His will 
 to them by actual revelation ; for, without this, it 
 would be impossible to make a covenant between 
 two parties. In order to illustrate this subject, 
 let us bring an example. We see how we make 
 covenants with each other. For instance, a 
 young man wishes to enter into a covenant of 
 matrimony with a young lady; but deprive him 
 of the privilege of revealing his mind to her, cut 
 off all direct communication between them, and a 
 covenant could never be made ; and so it is with 
 the Almighty. He never did enter into a cove- 
 nant with His creatures without revelations ; and 
 He never can do it. In short, whenever He 
 made a covenant with the people, where a whole 
 people were concerned, He included in the cove- 
 nant the priesthood, offices, and authorities, to- 
 gether with the ordinances and blessings, which 
 pertain to His covenant ; and so will He do at 
 this time. Whenever the new covenant is estab- 
 lished it will organize the kingdom of God with 
 all its offices, ordinances, gifts, and blessings, as 
 in the days of old ; but more of this when we 
 come to treat of the kingdom of God. 
 
 " But," says the inquirer, " what need have we of 
 the renewal of a contract which has never been 
 broken? If the Lord made a covenant in the days 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 45 
 
 of the Apostles, called a new covenant, why should 
 that covenant still be renewed again, seeing it is 
 in full force until it is broken by one party or the 
 other?" This is an important inquiry, involving 
 the fate of all Christendom in its decision; we 
 must therefore be very careful to make the deci- 
 sion perfectly plain, and the proof easy to be un- 
 derstood. That there was a covenant made 
 between God and the people in the days of Christ 
 and his Apostles, none will attempt to deny, and 
 if that covenant never has been broken, it must 
 be of force to the present day, and consequently 
 there is no need of a new one. It, therefore, 
 remains for us to prove that that covenant has 
 been broken, completely broken, so that it is not 
 in force, either among Jews or Gentiles, having 
 lost its offices, authorities, powers, and blessings, 
 insomuch that they are no where to be found 
 among men. In order to do this, we must ex- 
 amine what were its offices, authorities, powers, 
 and blessings, and then see whether they are still 
 known among men. 
 
 We read that its offices consisted of Apostles, 
 Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers, all 
 inspired, and set in the Church by the Lord him- 
 self, for the edifying of the saints, for the work 
 of the ministry, &c. And they were to continue 
 in the Church, wherever it was found, until they 
 all came to the unity of the faith, and unto the 
 measure of the stature of a man in Christ. 
 
 Secondly, the gifts of the Spirit, which some 
 call supernatural, were the powers and blessings 
 
46 PBOPHECY YEt.FTJTURE. 
 
 which pertained to that covenant, wherever it 
 existed, among the Jews or the Gentiles, so long 
 as the covenant was of force. Now, I would ask 
 the world of Christendom, or either of its sects 
 or parties, if they have Apostles, Prophets, Evan- 
 gelists, Pastors, and Teachers, inspired from on 
 high, together with all the gifts and blessings of 
 the Holy Spirit, which pertained to- the Gospel 
 covenant ? If not, then the offices and powers of 
 that covenant have been lost. And it must be 
 through the breaking of that covenant that they 
 were lost, for in this way the Jews lost these 
 privileges when they were handed to the Gentiles. 
 And Paul told the Gentiles, in his llth chapter 
 to the Romans, that if they did not abide in the 
 goodness of God, they would fall, as the Jews 
 had done before them. But in order to prove, by 
 further demonstration, that the Gospel covenant 
 has been broken by Jew, and Gentile, and all 
 people, so as to be no longer in force, I shall 
 quote Isaiah xxiv. 1 6. "Behold, the Lord 
 maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, 
 and tumeth it upside down, and scattereth abroad 
 the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with 
 the people so with the priest ; as with the ser- 
 vant so with his master; as with the maid so 
 with her mistress ; as with the buyer so with the 
 seller ; as with the lender so with the borrower ; 
 as with the taker of usury so with the giver of 
 usury to him. The land shall be utterly emp- 
 tied, and .utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath 
 spoken this word. The earth mourneth and 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 47 
 
 fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth 
 away, the haughty people of the earth do lan- 
 guish. The earth also is denied under the in- 
 habitants thereof; BECAUSE THEY HAVE TRANS- 
 GRESSED THE LAWS, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, 
 BROKEN THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. Therefore 
 
 hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that 
 dwell therein are desolate : therefore the inhabi- 
 tants of the earth are burned, and few men left." 
 In these few verses we discover a like calamity 
 awaiting priests and people, rich and poor, bond 
 and free, insomuch that they are all to be burned 
 up but a few ; and the complaint is that the earth 
 is denied under the inhabitants thereof, because 
 they have transgressed the laws, changed the or- 
 dinance, and broken the everlasting covenant. 
 Now this could not be speaking of any other than 
 the covenant, ordinance, and laws of the Gospel, 
 made with the people in the days of the Apostles ; 
 because, however any former covenant may have 
 been broken, yet the inhabitants of the earth 
 have never been destroyed by fire, all but a few, 
 for having broken any previous covenant. But 
 this destruction is to come by fire, as literally as 
 the flood in the days of Noah ; and it will con- 
 sume both priests and people from the earth, and 
 that, too, for having broken the covenant of the 
 Gospel, with its laws and its ordinances ; or else 
 we must get a new edition of the Bible, leaving 
 out the 24th of Isaiah. 
 
 Now, having settled this question, I trust the 
 reader will see the need of a new covenant, in 
 
48 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 order to save the few that are not to be burned. 
 We will therefore drop this subject for the pre- 
 sent, and turn again to the subject of the gather- 
 ing of Israel. You will please turn and read the 
 Hfith, 37th, 38th, and 39th chapters of Ezekiel. 
 In the 36th chapter you will discover a promise, 
 that Israel is to return from all the nations 
 whither they have been scattered, and to be 
 brought again to the land which God gave to 
 their fathers ; Jerusalem is to be filled with flocks 
 of men, and all the desolate cities of Judea are 
 to be re -built, fenced, and inhabited ; the land is 
 to be fenced, tilled, and sown, insomuch that they 
 shall say, " This land that was desolate is be- 
 come like the garden of Eden." "I the Lord 
 have spoken it, and I will do it ; and the heathen 
 shall know that I the Lord build the ruined 
 places, and plant that that was desolate. So 
 shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men, 
 and they shall know that I am the Lord." In 
 the 37th chapter you will find, after the vision of 
 the resurrection of the dead, the Prophet goes on 
 to speak of the two nations becoming one nation 
 upon the mountains of Israel, and one king being 
 king to them all ; and when this takes place they 
 are 110 more to be divided into two kingdoms. 
 Moreover, the Lord's tabernacle is to be with them, 
 and His sanctuary in the midst of them for ever- 
 more. He will for ever be their God, and they shall 
 be His people . ' ' And the heathen shall know that 
 I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary 
 shall be in the midst of them for evermore." 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 49 
 
 Now, it is a fact well known, that Judah and the 
 ten tribes have never been one nation upon the 
 mountains of Israel since the day they were first 
 divided into two nations. 
 
 But when this does take place, even the very 
 heathen are to know it, and are to be convinced 
 of the true God, as was Cyrus. Now, if the mis- 
 sionaries should convert the world before the Lord 
 does this great work, then it will save the Lord 
 the trouble of doing it in his own way, and it will 
 save the trouble of fulfilling the Prophets, and the 
 word of the Lord will fail, and all the world lay 
 hold of infidelity. Well did the Lord say, My 
 ways are not as your ways, nor my thoughts as 
 your thoughts. Chapters xxxviii. and xxxix. pre- 
 sent us with a view of many nations united under 
 one great head, whom the Lord is pleased to call 
 Gog; and being mounted on horseback, and armed 
 with all sorts of armour, they come up against the 
 mountains of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land ; 
 their object is to take a prey, to take away silver 
 and gold, and cattle, and goods in great abundance. 
 
 This is an event which is to transpire after the 
 return of the Jews and*the re-building of Jerusa- 
 lem ; while the towns and the land of Judea are 
 without walls, having neither bars nor gates. 
 But while they are at the point to swallow up the 
 Jews, and lay waste their country, behold, the 
 Lord's fury comes up in His face, a mighty earth- 
 quake is the result, insomuch that the fishes of 
 the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all the 
 creeping things, and all men upon the face of the 
 
 D 
 
50 PEOPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 earth shall shake at His presence, and every wall 
 shall fall to the ground, and every man's sword 
 shall be turned against his neighbour in this army, 
 and the Lord shall rain upon him, and upon his 
 bands, and upon the many people that are with 
 him an overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and 
 brimstone. And thus He will magnify Himself 
 and sanctify himself, in the eyes of many nations, 
 and they shall know that He is the Lord ; thus 
 they shall fall upon the open field, upon the 
 mountains of Israel, even Gog and all his army, 
 horses and horsemen ; and the Jews shall go forth 
 and gather the weapons of war, such as hand- 
 staves, spears, shields, bows and arrows ; and 
 these weapons shall last the cities of Israel seven 
 years for fuel, so that they shall cut no wood out 
 of the forest, for they shall burn the weapons with 
 the fire ; and they shall spoil those that spoiled 
 them, and rob those that robbed them, and they 
 shall gather gold and silver, and apparel, in great 
 abundance. At this time the fowls of the air and 
 the beasts of the field shall have a great feast ; 
 yea, they are to eat fat until they be full, and 
 drink blood until they be drunken. They are to 
 eat the flesh of captains, and kings, and mighty 
 men, and all men of war. But the Jews will 
 have a very serious duty to perform, which will 
 take 110 less than seven months ; namely, the bury- 
 ing of their enemies. They will select a place on 
 the east side of the sea, called the Valley of the 
 Passengers, and there shall they bury Gog and all 
 his multitude, and they shall call it the Valley of 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 51 
 
 Hamon Gog. And the scent shall go forth, inso- 
 much that it shall stop the noses of the passen- 
 gers ; thus shall they cleanse the land. " And I 
 will set my glory among the heathen, and all the 
 heathen shall see my judgment that I have 
 executed, and my hand that I have laid upon 
 them : so the house of Israel shall know that I am 
 the Lord their God from that day and forward. 
 And the heathen shall know that the house of 
 Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; 
 because they trespassed against me, therefore hid 
 I my face from them, and gave them into the 
 hand of their enemies; so fell they all by the 
 sword. According to their uncleanness, and ac- 
 cording to their transgressions, have I done unto 
 them, and hid myself from them. Therefore thus 
 saith the Lord God, Now will I bring again the 
 captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole 
 house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy 
 name : after that they have borne their shame, 
 and all their trespasses whereby they have tres- 
 passed against me when they dwelt safely in their 
 own land, and none made them afraid. When I 
 have brought them again from the people, and 
 gathered them out of their enemy's lands, and am 
 sanctified in them in tjie sight of many nations ; 
 then shall they know that I am the Lord their 
 God, which caused them to be led into captivity 
 among the heathen ; but I have gathered them 
 into their own land, and have left none of them 
 any more there. Neither will I hide my face any 
 more from them ; for I have poured out my Spirit 
 upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." 
 
52 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 Iii the foregoing we discover that the heathen 
 are to know that the house of Israel went into cap- 
 tivity for their iniquity, and are gathered again by 
 the hand of God, after having borne their shame 
 for all their trespasses : and the house of Israel 
 will know that it was the Lord their God who 
 caused them to be led into captivity among the 
 heathen, and that He it was that gathered and de- 
 fended them, and He will hide His face no more 
 from them, but will pour out His Spirit upon them. 
 
 O! ye blind, ye stiff-necked, ye hard-hearted 
 generation, with the Bible circulated among all 
 nations, will whole nations be so blind as to fulfil 
 this prophecy, and not know it until it brings de- 
 struction upon their own heads. Why all this 
 blindness? Alas! it is because of false teachers, 
 who will tell them the Bible must be spiritualized. 
 Others declare that these prophecies can never be 
 understood until they are fulfilled. If this be the 
 case, then we can never escape the judgments pre- 
 dicted in them, but must continue the children of 
 darkness, until they come upon us unawares, and 
 sweep us from the earth. Then where will be 
 the consolation of looking back and seeing them 
 fulfilled? But blessed be God, He has told us 
 by the mouth of Daniel that many shall run to 
 and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, and 
 that the wise shall understand, but none of the 
 wicked shall understand. And now, I would ask, 
 who are more wicked than the wilfully blind 
 leaders of the blind, who tell us we cannot un- 
 derstand the Scriptures ? 
 
PEOPHECY YET FUTUEE. 53 
 
 Zachariah, in his 14th chapter, has told us much 
 concerning the great battle and overthrow of the 
 nations who fight against Jerusalem; and he has 
 said, in plain words, that the Lord shall come at 
 the very time of the overthrow of that army; yes, 
 in fact, even while they are in the act of taking 
 Jerusalem, and have already succeeded in taking 
 one-half the city, and spoiling their houses, and 
 ravishing their women. Then, behold their long- 
 expected Messiah, suddenly appearing, shall stand 
 upon the Mount of Olives, a little east of Jerusa- 
 lem, to fight against those nations and deliver the 
 Jews. Zachariah says the Mount of Olives shall 
 cleave in twain, from east to west, and one-half 
 of the mountain shall remove to the north, while 
 the other half falls off to the south, suddenly form- 
 ing a very great valley, into which the Jews shall 
 flee for protection from their enemies, as they fled 
 from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of 
 Judah ; while the Lord cometh and all the saints 
 with Him. Then will the Jews behold that long, 
 long-expected Messiah, coming in power to their 
 deliverance, as they always looked for him. He 
 will destroy their enemies, and deliver them from 
 trouble at the very time they are in the utmost 
 consternation, and about to be swallowed up by 
 their enemies. But what will be their astonish- 
 ment when they are about to fall at the feet of 
 their Deliverer, and acknowledge Him their Mes- 
 siah ! They discover the wounds which were once 
 made in his hands, feet, and side ; and, on inquiry, 
 at once recognize Jesus of Nazareth the king of 
 
54 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 the Jews, the man so long rejected. Well did the 
 Prophet say, they shall mourn and weep, every 
 family apart, and their wives apart. But thank 
 Heaven, there will be an end to their mourning ; 
 for he will forgive their iniquities, and cleanse 
 them from all uncleanness. Jerusalem shall be a 
 holy city from that time forth, and all the land 
 shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Binimon, 
 and she shall be lifted up and inhabited in her 
 place, and men shall dwell there, and there shall 
 be no more utter destruction of Jerusalem ; " and in 
 that day there shall be one Lord, and his name 
 one, and he shall be king over all the earth." 
 
 John, in his llth chapter of Revelations, gives 
 us many more particulars concerning this same 
 event. He informs us, that, after the city and 
 temple are re-built by the Jews, the Gentiles will 
 tread it under foot forty and two months, during 
 which time there will be two Prophets continually 
 prophesying and working mighty miracles. And 
 it seems that the Gentile army shall be hindered 
 from utterly destroying and overthrowing the city, 
 while these two Prophets continue. But, after a 
 struggle of three years and a half, they at length 
 succeed in destroying these two Prophets, and 
 then overrunning much of the city ; they send 
 gifts to each other because of the death of the two 
 Prophets, and in the meantime will not allow their 
 dead bodies to be put in graves, but suffer them 
 to he in the streets of Jerusalem three days and 
 a half; during which the armies of the Gentiles, 
 consisting of many kindreds, tongues, and nations, 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 55 
 
 passing through the city plundering the Jews, see 
 their dead bodies lying in the street. But, after 
 three days and a half, on a sudden, the spirit of 
 life from God enters them, and they will arise and 
 stand upon their feet, and great fear will fall upon 
 them that see them. And then they shall hear a 
 voice from heaven saying, "Come up hither," and 
 they will ascend up to heaven in a cloud, their 
 enemies beholding them. And, having described 
 all these things, then come the shaking, spoken 
 of by Ezekiel, and the rending of the Mount of 
 Olives, spoken of by Zachariah. John says, " The 
 same hour there was a great earthquake, and the 
 tenth part of the city fell ; and in the earthquake 
 were slain of men seven thousand." And then one 
 of the next scenes that follow is the sound of 
 voices, saying, " The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His 
 Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." 
 
 Now, having summed up the description of 
 these great events spoken of by these Prophets, 
 I would just remark, there is no difficulty in un- 
 derstanding them all to be perfectly plain and 
 literal in their fulfilment. 
 
 Suffice it to say, the Jews gather home, and 
 re-build Jerusalem. The nations gather against 
 them to battle. Their armies encompass the city, 
 and have more or less power over it for three years 
 and a half. A couple of Jewish Prophets, by their 
 mighty miracles, keep them from utterly over- 
 coming the Jews; until at length they are slain, 
 and the city is left in a great measure to the 
 
6 ft PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 mercy of their enemies for three days and a half ; 
 the two Prophets rise from the dead and ascend 
 up into heaven. The Messiah comes, convulses 
 the earth, overthrows the army of the Gentiles, 
 delivers the Jews, cleanses Jerusalem, cuts off 
 all wickedness from the earth, raises the Saints 
 from the dead, brings them with him, and com- 
 mences his reign of a thousand years ; during which 
 time his Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh ; 
 men and beasts, birds and serpents, will be per- 
 fectly harmless, and peace and the knowledge and 
 glory of God shall cover the earth as the waters 
 cover the sea ; and the kingdom, and the great- 
 ness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, 
 shall be given to the Saints of the Most High. 
 
 During this thousand years Satan mil be 
 bound, and have no power to tempt the children of 
 men. And the earth itself will be delivered from 
 the curse which came by reason of the Fall. The 
 rough places mil become smooth, the barren de- 
 serts fruitful ; the mountains levelled ; the valleys 
 exalted; the thorn and thistle shall no more be 
 found, but all the earth shall yield her increase in 
 abundance to the Saints of God. But, after the 
 thousand years are ended, then shall Satan be 
 loosed, and shall go out to deceive the nations 
 which dwell in the four quarters of the earth, to 
 gather them to battle, and to bring them up to 
 battle against the camp of the Saints. Then the 
 great and last struggle shall take place between God 
 and Satan, for the empire of the earth. Satan 
 and his army shall be overthrown. And after 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 57 
 
 these great things, come the end of the earth, 
 the resurrection of the wicked, and the last judg- 
 ment. And there shall be a new earth and a 
 new heaven, for the former earth and the former 
 heaven shall have passed away, that is, they will 
 be changed from temporal to eternal, and made 
 fit for the abode of immortals. Then cometh 
 Jerusalem down from God, out of heaven, having 
 been renewed as well as the heavens and the 
 earth. " For," said He, " behold, I make till 
 tilings new." This new city, placed upon the 
 new earth, with the Lord God and the Lamb in 
 the midst, seems to be man's eternal abode, 
 insomuch that, after all our longings for a place 
 beyond the bounds of time and space, as saith the 
 poet, we are at last brought to our proper senses, 
 and given to understand that man is destined for 
 ever to inherit this self- same planet, upon which 
 he was first created, which shall be redeemed, 
 sanctified, renewed, purified, and prepared as an 
 eternal inheritance for immortality and eternal 
 life ; with the holy city for its capital, the throne 
 of God in the midst for its seat of government ; 
 and watered with a stream, clear as crystal, 
 called the Waters of Life, issuing from the 
 throne of Jehovah ; while either side is adorned 
 with trees of never-fading beauty. " Blessed are 
 they that do his commandments, that they may 
 have a right to the tree of life, and may enter 
 in through the gates into the city." By this time 
 we begin to understand the words of the Saviour, 
 " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
 
 D 
 
58 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 earth." And also the song which John heard in 
 heaven, which ended thus ; " We shall reign on 
 the EARTH." Reader, do not be startled; sup- 
 pose you were to be caught up into heaven, there 
 to stand with the redeemed of every nation, kin- 
 dred, tongue, and people, and join them in sing- 
 ing, and, to your astonishment, all heaven is 
 filled with joy, while they tune the immortal lyre, 
 in joyful anticipation of one day reigning on the 
 earth a planet now under the dominion of 
 Satan, the abode of wretchedness and misery, 
 from which your glad spirit had taken its flight, 
 and, as you suppose, an everlasting farewell. 
 You might perhaps be startled for a moment, 
 and enquire within yourself. " Why have I never 
 heard this theme sung among the churches on 
 earth ? " Well, my friend, the answer would be, 
 Because you lived in a day when people did not 
 understand the Scriptures. 
 
 Abraham would tell you, you should have 
 read the promise of God to him, Gen. xvii. 8, 
 where God not only promised the land of Canaan 
 to his seed for an everlasting possession, but also 
 to him. Then you should have read the testi- 
 mony of Stephen, Acts vii. 5, by which you 
 would have ascertained that Abraham never had 
 inherited the things promised, but was still ex- 
 pecting to rise from the dead and be brought into 
 the land of Canaan, to inherit them. Yes, says 
 Ezekiel, if you had read the 37th chapter of my 
 Prophecies, you would have found a positive pro- 
 mise, that God would open the graves of the 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 59 
 
 whole house of Israel, who were dead, and gather 
 up their dry bones, and put them together, each 
 to its own proper place, and even clothe them 
 again with flesh, sinews, and skin, and put His 
 Spirit in them,;"and|they should live ; and then, 
 instead of being caught up to heaven, they 
 should be brought into the land of Canaan, which 
 the Lord gave them, and they should inherit it. 
 But, still astonished, you might turn to Job ; and 
 he, surprised to find one unacquainted with so 
 plain a subject, would exclaim, Did you never 
 read my 19th chapter, from the 23rd to the 27th 
 verses, where I declare, I wish my words were 
 written in a book, saying, that my Redeemer 
 would stand on the earth in the latter day, and 
 that I should see him in the flesh, for myself, 
 and not another, though worms should destroy 
 this body ? Even David, the sweet singer of 
 Israel, would call to your mind his 37th Psalm, 
 where he repeatedly declares, that the meek shall 
 inherit the earth for ever, after the wicked are 
 cut off from the face thereof. And, last of all, 
 to set the matter for ever at rest, the voice of the 
 Saviour would mildly fall upon your ear, in his 
 sermon on the mount, declaring emphatically, 
 " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
 earth." To these things you would answer, "I 
 have read these passages to be sure, but was al- 
 ways taught to believe that they did not mean so, 
 therefore I never understood them until now. Let 
 me go and tell the people what wonders have 
 opened to my view since my arrival in heaven, 
 
60 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 merely from having heard one short song. It is 
 true, I have heard much of the glories of heaven 
 described while on earth, but never once thought 
 of their rejoicing in anticipation of returning to 
 the earth." Says the Saviour, " They have 
 Moses and the Prophets; if they will not believe 
 them, neither would they believe although one 
 should rise from the dead." 
 
 We will now return to the subject of the com- 
 ing of Messiah, and the ushering in of that 
 glorious day called the Millennium, or rest of a 
 thousand years. We gather from the field of 
 prophecy, through which we have passed : first, 
 that that glorious day will be ushered in by the 
 personal coming of Christ, and the resurrection 
 of all the saints; second, that all the wicked 
 will be destroyed from the earth by overwhelm- 
 ing judgments of God, and by fire, at the time 
 of his coming, insomuch that the earth will be 
 cleansed by fire from its wicked inhabitants, as it 
 once was by water; and this burning will include 
 priests as well as people : all but a few shall be 
 burned. This burning more especially applies to 
 the fallen church, rather than to the heathen or 
 Jews, whom they are now trying to convert. 
 Woe unto you, Gentiles, who call yourselves the 
 people of the Lord, but have made void the law 
 of God by your traditions; for in vain do you 
 call Lord, Lord, and do not the things which 
 Jesus commands; in vain do ye worship him, 
 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 
 Behold, the sword of vengeance hangs over you, 
 
PROPHECY YET FUTURE. HI 
 
 and except you repent it will soon fall upon you ; 
 and it will be more tolerable in that day for the 
 Jews and heathen than for you. Behold ye flatter 
 yourselves that the glorious day spoken of by the 
 Prophets will be ushered in by your modern in- 
 ventions and monied plans, which are got up in 
 order to convert the Jews and heathen to the 
 various sectarian principles now existing among 
 yourselves; and you expect, when this is done, to 
 behold a millennium after your own heart. But 
 the Jews and heathen never will be converted, as 
 a people, to any other plan than that laid down in 
 the Bible for the great restoration of Israel. And 
 you yourselves are labouring under a broken cove- 
 nant, and ripening for the fire as fast as possible. 
 But do not count me your enemy because I tell 
 you the truth, for God is my witness that I love 
 your souls too well to keep back any truth from 
 you, however severe it may seem. The wounds 
 of a friend are better than the kisses of an 
 enemy. Now concerning the signs of the times, 
 the inquiry often arises, " When shall these things 
 be, and what signs shall there be when these 
 things shall come to pass ? " I am often asked 
 the question, whether it is near at hand ; I will 
 therefore tell you all., whereby you may know for 
 yourselves when it is nigh, even at the doors, and 
 not be dependent on the knowledge of others. 
 
 Now you behold the apple-tree, and all the 
 trees, when they begin to shoot forth their leaves, 
 ye know of your own selves that summer is nigh 
 at hand ; and so likewise when ye shall see great 
 
62 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 earthquakes, families, pestilence, and plagues of 
 every kind ; the sea breaking beyond its bounds, 
 and all things in commotion; the nations dis- 
 tressed with perplexity ; men's hearts failing 
 them for fear, and for looking for the things which 
 are coming on the earth ; when you see signs in 
 the heaven above, and in the earth beneath, 
 blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke, the sun 
 turned to darkness, the moon to blood, and stars 
 hurled from their courses; when you see the 
 Jews gathering to Jerusalem, and the armies of 
 the nations gathering against them to battle, you 
 may know, with a perfect knowledge, that Christ's 
 coming is near, even at the doors. " Verily I 
 say unto you, this generation shall not pass till 
 all these things be fulfilled." Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but not one word of all that the 
 Lord has spoken by the mouth of all His Holy 
 Prophets and Apostles shall fail. Whoever will 
 look to the word of the Prophets, and to the say- 
 ings of Jesus Christ, on this subject, the same 
 will be convinced that all the signs of which 
 I have spoken are clearly pointed out as the signs 
 of His coming. But, notwithstanding all these 
 things are written, His coming will overtake the 
 world unawares, as the flood did the people in the 
 days of Noah. The reason is, they will not under- 
 stand the Prophets. They will not endure sound 
 doctrine ; their ears are turned away from the truth 
 and turned to fables, because of false teachers, and 
 the precepts of men; and what is still worse, when 
 God sends men with the New and Everlasting 
 
PEOPHECY YET FUTURE. 65 
 
 Covenant, and clothes them with boldness to tes- 
 tify to the truth, they will be treated as the ser- 
 vants of God have been before them by the fallen 
 churches ; every church will cleave to their own 
 way, and will unite in saying, " There is 110 
 need of these new things, the good old way is 
 right ;" while at the same time they are walking 
 in as many different ways as there are sects, and 
 only agree in persecuting and speaking all manner 
 of evil against the fishers and hunters whom 
 God shall send'. But, thank Heaven, there 
 are individuals in every sect who are humbly 
 seeking the truth, and who will know the voice 
 of truth, and be gathered out, and planted in 
 the new and everlasting covenant; and they 
 will be adopted into the family of Israel, and 
 will be gathered with them, and be partakers of 
 the same covenant of promise. Yea, as Jeremiah 
 says, in the 16th charter of his Prophecies, " The 
 Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of 
 the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have 
 inherited lies, vanities, and things wherein there 
 is no profit." But as the Jews overlooked Christ's 
 first coming, by not understanding the Prophets, 
 and fastening their whole expectations on his 
 glorious coming in the last days, to restore the 
 kingdom to Israel, and avenge them of their 
 enemies, and, by this mistake, were broken and 
 scattered ; so the Gentiles will overlook the pro- 
 phecies concerning his second coming, by con- 
 founding them with the last judgment, which is 
 to take place more than a thousand years after- 
 
64 PROPHECY YET FUTURE. 
 
 ward. But this fatal mistake, instead of causing 
 the Gentiles to be broken and scattered, will cause 
 them to be ground to powder. 
 
 Oh ! my brethren according to the flesh, my 
 soul mourns over you, and had I a voice like a 
 trumpet, I would cry, Awake, awake, and arouse 
 from your slumbers, for the time is fulfilled, your 
 destruction is at the door, " for I have heard from 
 the Lord God of Hosts, a consumption, even 
 determined upon the whole earth." Prepare to 
 meet your God ! And again, Awake, O ! house of 
 Israel, and lift up your heads, for your redemption 
 draweth nigh : yea, depart ye, depart ye, go ye 
 out from hence, gather home from your long dis- 
 persion, rebuild your cities ; yea, go ye out from 
 the nations, from one end of heaven to the other ; 
 but let not your flight be in haste, for the Lord 
 shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall 
 be your reward. And, finally, I would say to all, 
 both Jew and Gentile, Repent ye, repent ye, 
 for the great day of the Lord is at hand : for if 
 I, who am a man, do lift up my voice, and call 
 upon you to repent, and ye hate me, what will ye 
 say when the day cometh, when the thunders 
 shall utter their voices to the ends of the earth, 
 speaking to the ears of all that live, saying, 
 ' ; Repent, and prepare for the great day of the 
 Lord"? Yea, again, when the lightnings shall 
 streak from the east unto the west, and shall 
 utter forth their voices unto all that live, and 
 make the ears of all that hear to tingle, saying 
 these words, " Repent ye, for the great day of the 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 65 
 
 Lord is come." And again, the Lord shall utter 
 his voice out of heaven, saying, " Hearken, O ye 
 nations of the earth, and hear the words of that 
 God who made you : O ye nations of the earth, 
 how often would I have gathered you together, 
 as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
 but ye would not ! How often have I called upon 
 you by the mouth of my servants, and by the 
 ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and 
 by the voice of thunderiiigs, and by the voice of 
 lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by 
 the voice of earthquakes and great hailstorms, 
 and by the voice of famine and pestilences of 
 every kind, and by the great sound of a trumpet, 
 and by the voice of judgments, and by the voice 
 of mercy, all the day long, and by the voice of 
 glory and honour, and the riches of eternal life, 
 and would have saved you with an everlasting 
 salvation, but ye would not ! Behold, the day 
 has come, when the cup of the wrath of mine 
 indignation is full." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 " Seek first the Kingdom of God." 
 
 THIS was the command of the Saviour, while 011 
 the earth, teaching the children of men. 
 
 Having taken a general view of the Prophecies, 
 Past and Future, we shall now proceed to fulfil 
 
66 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 this command, and search out the kingdom of 
 God. But, before we advance, I would again 
 caution the reader not to accompany me in this 
 research, unless he is prepared to sacrifice every 
 thing, even to his good name, and life itself, 
 if necessary, for the truth; for if he should 
 once get a view of the kingdom of God, he will 
 be so delighted, that he never will rest satisfied 
 short of becoming a subject of the same. And yet 
 it will be so unlike every other system of religion 
 now on earth, that he will be astonished that any 
 person, with the Bible in his hand, should ever 
 have mistaken any of the systems of men for the 
 kingdom of God. There are certain powers, 
 privileges, and blessings, pertaining to the king- 
 dom of God, which are found in no other kingdom, 
 nor enjoyed by any other people. By these it was 
 ever distinguished from all other kingdoms and 
 systems, insomuch that the inquiring mind, seeking 
 the kingdom of God, and being once acquainted 
 with these peculiarities concerning it, need never 
 mistake it, or be at a loss to know when he has 
 found it. But before we proceed any farther in 
 our research, let us agree upon the meaning of 
 the term, The Kingdom of God, or the sense in" 
 which we will use it ; for some apply this term to the 
 kingdom of glory above, and some to the individual 
 enjoyments of their own souls, while others apply 
 it to His organized government on the earth. 
 Now, when WE speak of the kingdom of God, 
 we wish it to be understood that we mean His 
 organized government on the earth. 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 67 
 
 Now, reader, we launch forth into the wide field 
 before us in search of a kingdom. But stop, let 
 us consider What is a kingdom? I reply, that 
 four things are required in order to constitute any 
 kingdom in heaven or on earth ; namely, first, a 
 king; secondly, commissioned officers duly quali- 
 fied to execute his ordinances and laws ; thirdly, 
 a code of laws by which the subjects are govern- 
 ed; and fourthly, subjects who are governed. 
 Where these exist in their proper order and regu- 
 lar authority, there is a kingdom, but where 
 either of these cease to exist, there is a disorgani- 
 zation of the kingdom ; consequently an end of it, 
 until reorganized after the same manner as before. 
 In this respect the kingdom of God is like all 
 other kingdoms ; wherever we find officers duly 
 commissioned and qualified by the Lord Jesus, 
 together with his ordinances and laws existing in 
 purity, unmixed with any precepts or command- 
 ments of men, there the kingdom of God exists, 
 and there his power is manifest and His blessings 
 are enjoyed as in days of old. 
 
 We shall now take a view of the setting up of 
 the kingdom of God in the days of the Apostles. 
 The first intimation of its near approach was by 
 an angel to Zachariah, promising him a son, who 
 should go before the King to prepare his way. 
 The next manifestation was to Mary, and finally 
 to Joseph, by a holy angel, promising the birth of 
 the Messiah ; while at the same time, the Holy 
 Ghost manifested unto Simeon, in the temple, that 
 he should not die until he had seen the Saviour, 
 
H8 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 Thus, all these, together with the shepherds and 
 the wise men from the east, began to rejoice with 
 a joy unspeakable and full of glory, while the 
 world around them knew not the occasion of their 
 joy. After these things, all seemed to rest in 
 silent expectation, until John had grown to man- 
 hood, when he came bounding from the wilderness 
 of Judea, with a proclamation strange and new, 
 crying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is 
 at hand," baptizing unto repentance, telling them 
 plainly that their King was already standing 
 among them, on the point of setting up his king- 
 dom. And while he yet ministered, the Messiah 
 came, and was baptized, and sealed with the 
 Spirit of God, which rested upon him in the form 
 of a dove ; and soon after he began the same pro- 
 clamation as John, saying, " Repent ye, for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then, after choos- 
 ing twelve disciples, he sent them forth into all 
 the cities of Judea, with the same proclamation, 
 " The kingdom of heaven is at hand;" and after 
 them he sent seventy, and then another seventy, 
 with the same news, so that all might be well 
 warned and prepared for a kingdom which was 
 soon to be organized amongst them. But when 
 these things had produced the desired effect, in 
 causing a general expectation, more especially in 
 the hearts of his disciples, who daily expected to 
 triumph over their persecutors by the coronation 
 of this glorious personage, while they themselves 
 were hoping for a reward for all their toil and 
 sacrifices for his sake, by being exalted to dignity 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 69 
 
 near his person, what must have been their disap- 
 pointment when they saw their King taken and 
 crucified, having heeii mocked, derided, ridiculed, 
 and finally overcome and triumphed over, both by 
 Jew and Gentile? They would gladly have died 
 in battle to have placed him upon the throne ; but 
 tamely to submit without a struggle, to give up all 
 their expectations, and sink in despair from the 
 highest pitch of enthusiasm to the lowest degra- 
 dation, was more than they could well endure. 
 They shrank back in sorrow, and returned every 
 man to his net, or to their several occupations, 
 supposing all was over ; probably with reflections 
 like these : " Is this the result of all our labours ? 
 was it for this we forsook all worldly objects, our 
 friends, our houses and lands, suffering perse- 
 cution, hunger, fatigue, and disgrace? and we 
 trusted it should have been He who would have 
 delivered Israel; but alas, they have killed him, 
 and all is over. For three years we have awak- 
 ened a general expectation through all Judea, by 
 telling them that the kingdom of heaven was at 
 hand, but now our King is dead, how shall we 
 dare to look the people in the face ?" With these 
 reflections, each pursuing his own course, all was 
 again turned to silence, and the voice had ceased 
 to be heard in Judea, crying, " Repent ye, for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus slept in 
 the arms of death ; a great stone, with the seal of 
 state, secured the tomb where he lay, while the 
 Roman guard stood in watchful silence to see that 
 all was kept secure; when suddenly, from the 
 
70 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 regions of glory, a mighty angel descended,at whose 
 presence the soldiers fell back as dead men, while 
 he rolled the stone from the door of the sepulchre, 
 and the Son of God awoke from his slumbers, 
 burst the bonds of death, and soon after appearing 
 to Mary, he sent her to the disciples with the 
 joyful news of his resurrection, and appointed a 
 place to meet them. When, after seeing him, all 
 their sorrow was turned into joy, and all their 
 former hopes were suddenly revived, they had no 
 longer to cry, " The kingdom of heaven is at hand," 
 but were to tarry at Jerusalem until the kingdom 
 was established ; and they prepared to unlock the 
 door of the kingdom, and to adopt strangers and 
 foreigners into it as legal citizens, by adminis- 
 tering certain laws and ordinances, which were 
 invariably the laws of adoption, and without which 
 no man could ever become a citizen. Having 
 ascended up on high, and having been crowned 
 will all power in heaven and on earth, he again 
 comes to his disciples, and gives them their au- 
 thority, saying unto them, "Go ye into all the 
 world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 
 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; 
 but he that believeth not shall be damned. And 
 these signs shall follow them that believe : In my 
 name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak 
 with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents : 
 and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not 
 hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and 
 they shall recover." Mark xvi. 15 18. Now 
 I wish the reader not to pass over this commission 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 71 
 
 until he understands it, because, when once under- 
 stood, he never need mistake the kingdom of God, 
 but will at once discover those peculiarities which 
 were for ever to distinguish it from all other king- 
 doms or religious systems on earth. Lest he 
 should misunderstand, we will analyze it, and 
 look at each part carefully in its own proper light ; 
 first, they were to preach the Gospel, or, in other 
 words, the glad tidings of a crucified and risen 
 Redeemer, to all the world; secondly, he that be- 
 lieved, and was baptized, should be saved ; thirdly, 
 he that did not believe what they preached should 
 be damned; and fourthly, these signs should follow 
 them that believed, first, they were to cast out 
 devils ; second, to speak with new tongues ; third, 
 to take up serpents; fourth, if they drank any 
 deadly thing, it should not hurt them ; fifth, they 
 were to lay hands on the sick, and they should 
 recover. 
 
 Now, it is wilful blindness, or ignorance of the 
 English language, that has ever caused any mis- 
 understanding here. For some tell us that those 
 signs were only to follow the Apostles ; and others, 
 that they were only to follow believers in that age. 
 But Christ places the preaching, believing, salva- 
 tion, and the signs that were to follow, all on an 
 equal footing ; where one was limited, the other 
 must be ; where one ceased, the other did. If the 
 language limits these signs to the Apostles, it limits 
 faith and salvation also to them. If no others were 
 to have these signs follow them, then no others 
 were to believe, and no others were to be saved. 
 
72 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 Again, if the language limits these signs to the 
 first age Or ages of Christianity, then it limits sal- 
 vatio.n to the first ages of Christianity, for one is 
 precisely as much limited as the other ; and where 
 one is in force, the other is ; and where one ends, 
 the other must stop. And as well might we say, 
 preaching of the Gospel is no longer needed; 
 neither faith nor salvation ; these were only given 
 at first to establish the Gospel; as to say, the signs 
 are no longer necessary, they were only given at 
 first to establish the Gospel. But, says the asto- 
 nished reader, " Have not these signs ceased from 
 among men?" I reply, prove that they have ceased, 
 and it will prove that the Gospel has ceased to be 
 preached, that men have -ceased to believe and be 
 saved, and that the world is without the kingdom 
 of God; or else it will prove that Jesus Christ 
 was an impostor, and his promises of no effect. 
 
 Now, having analyzed and understood this com- 
 mission, let us still pursue the subject of the organi- 
 zation of the kingdom of God in the days of the 
 Apostles. The Saviour, having given them their 
 authority, eommands them to tarry, and not 
 undertake their mission, until they were endowed 
 with power from on high. But why this delay ? 
 Because no man was ever qualified, or ever will 
 be, to preach that Gospel, and teach all things 
 whatsoever Jesus commanded him, without the 
 Holy Ghost; and a very different Holy Ghost, 
 too, from the one now enjoyed by men w r ho are 
 not inspired, for the Holy Ghost of which Jesus 
 spake would guide into all truth, bring all things 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 73 
 
 to remembrance, whatsoever he had said unto 
 them, and shew them things to come not to 
 mention that it would enable them to speak in all 
 the languages of the earth. Now, a man who 
 preaches needs that Holy Ghost very much ; first, 
 to guide into all truth, that he may know what 
 to teach ; second, to strengthen his memory, lest 
 he might neglect to teach some of the things which 
 were commanded them ; and, third, he needs to 
 know things to come, that he may forewarn his 
 hearers of approaching danger, and that would 
 constitute him a Prophet. From this the reader 
 may see how careful Jesus was that none should 
 preach His Gospel without the Holy Ghost. He 
 may also learn how different the Spirit of Truth 
 is from the spirits now abroad in the earth, 
 deceiving the world, under the name of tlie* Holy 
 Ghost. If the churches of the present day have 
 the Holy Ghost, why are they so much at a loss 
 to understand truth ? Why do they walk in so 
 many different ways and doctrines? Why do 
 they need whole libraries of sermons, tracts, 
 divinities, debates, arguments, and opinions, all 
 written by the wisdom of men, without even 
 professing to be inspired? Well doth the Lord 
 complain, saying, " Their fear towards me is 
 taught by the precepts of men." But to return : 
 the Apostles tarried at Jerusalem until endowed 
 with power, and then they commenced to pro- 
 claim the Gospel. 
 
 Here we have discovered several things towards 
 a kingdom : first, we have found a king, crowned 
 
 
 
74 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 at the right hand of God, to whom is committed 
 all power in heaven and on earth ; second, com- 
 missioned officers, duly appointed, to administer 
 the affairs of government ; third, the laws by 
 which they were to be governed were ALL THINGS 
 
 WHATSOEVER JESUS HAD COMMANDED HIS DISCIPLES 
 TO TEACH THEM. 
 
 And now, if we can find how men became citi- 
 /ens of that kingdom I mean as to the rules of 
 adoption then we have found the kingdom of 
 God in that age, and shall be very much dis- 
 satisfied with everything in our own age, pro- 
 fessing to be the kingdom of God, which is not 
 according to the pattern. 
 
 It happened that there were no natural-born 
 subjects of that kingdom, for both Jew and Gen- 
 tile were included in sin and unbelief; and none 
 could be citizens without the law of adoption. All 
 that believed on the name of the king had power 
 to be adopted, but there was but one invariable 
 rule or plan by which they were adopted ; and 
 all that undertook to claim citizenship, in any 
 other way whatever, were counted thieves and 
 robbers, and could never obtain the seal of adop- 
 tion. This rule was laid down in the Saviour's 
 teaching to Nicodemus, namely, " Except a man 
 be born of water (that is, baptized in water) and 
 of the Spirit (that is, baptized with the Spirit), 
 he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 Now, to Peter were given the keys of the 
 kingdom ; therefore it was his duty to open the 
 kingdom to Jew, and also to Gentile. We will 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 75 
 
 therefore carefully examine the manner in which 
 he did adopt the Jews into the kingdom at the 
 day of Pentecost. 
 
 Now, when the multitude came running together 
 oil the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter, standing 
 up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and reasoned 
 Avith them from the Scriptures, testifying of Jesus 
 Christ, and his resurrection and ascension 011 
 high, insomuch that many became convinced of 
 the truth, and inquired what they should do. These 
 were not Christians, but they were people who 
 were that moment convinced that Jesus was the 
 Christ ; and because they were convinced of this 
 fact, they inquired, " What shall we do?" Then 
 Peter said unto them, " Repent, and be baptized, 
 every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for 
 the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost : for the promise is unto you and 
 your children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
 many as the Lord our God shall call." My reader, 
 do you understand this proclamation? If you do, 
 you will see that this Gospel is not generally 
 preached in modern times. Let us, therefore, 
 analyze and examine it, sentence by sentence. 
 You recollect they already believed, and the next 
 thing was for them to repent ; first, faith ; second, 
 repentance ; third, baptism ; fourth, remission of 
 sins ; and fifth, the Holy Ghost. This was the 
 order of the Gospel. Faith gave the power to 
 become sons or citizens ; repentance, and baptism 
 in his name, was the obedience through which 
 they were adopted; and the Holy Spirit of pro- 
 
76 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 mise was the seal of their adoption, and this they 
 were sure to receive if they would obey. Now, 
 reader, where do you hear such preaching in our 
 day? Who teaches that those who believe and 
 repent should be baptized, and none others? 
 1 'erhaps the reader may say the Baptists do ; 
 but do they call upon men to be baptized as soon 
 as they believe and repent? And moreover, do 
 they promise the remission of sins, with the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost? Recollect, now, what eifect 
 . the Holy Ghost has upon people who receive it. 
 It will guide them into all truth, strengthen the 
 memory, and show them things to come. And 
 Joel has said, it would cause them to dream 
 1 reams, to see visions, and to prophesy. 0! my 
 reader, where do you find a gospel like this 
 preached among men? Would men go mourn- 
 ing for weeks upon weeks, without the forgiveness 
 of sins, or the comfort of the Holy Spirit, if Peter 
 stood among us to tell precisely how to get such 
 blessings? Now, what would you think of a 
 camp meeting, where three thousand men should 
 come forward to be prayed for, and one of the 
 ministers should (Peter like) command them every 
 one to repent, and be baptized for the remission 
 of sins, promising that all who obeyed should 
 receive the remission of sins and the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, which should cause them to dream 
 dreams and prophesy ; and then should arise with 
 his brethren of the same calling, and the same 
 hour commence baptizing, and continue until 
 they had baptized them all; and the Holy Ghost 
 should fall upon them, and they begin to see 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 77 
 
 visions, speak in other tongues, and prophesy ? 
 Would not the news go abroad, far and wide, 
 that a new doctrine had made its appearance, 
 quite different from any thing now practised 
 among men ? O yes, says the reader, this, to be 
 sure, would be something new, and very strange 
 to all of us. Well, strange as it may seem, it is 
 the Gospel, as preached by Peter on the day of 
 Pentecost; and Paul declares that he preached 
 the same Gospel that Peter did ; and he has also 
 said, " Though we, or an angel from heaven, 
 preach any other gospel, let him be accursed." 
 Now, the reader need no longer be astonished to 
 see that these signs do not follow them that 
 believe some other Gospel, or doctrine, different 
 from that preached by the Apostles. 
 
 But now let us return to the kingdom of God 
 organized in the days of the Apostles; you dis- 
 cover that three thousand persons were adopted 
 into the kingdom the first day the door was 
 opened. These, together with the numerous 
 additions which were afterwards made, were the 
 subjects of this kingdom; which, being fitly 
 framed together, grew into a holy temple in the 
 Lord. Thus, we have cleared away the rubbish 
 of sectarian tradition and superstitions, which 
 arose in heaps around us ; and having searched 
 carefully, we have at length discovered the king- 
 dom of God, as it existed at its first organization 
 in the days of the Apostles ; and we have seen 
 that it differs widely from all modem systems of 
 religion, both in its offices, ordinances, powers, 
 
78 THE KINGDOM OF ftOD. 
 
 and privileges, insomuch that no man need ever 
 mistake the one for the other. 
 
 Having made this discovery, we shall proceed 
 to examine the progress of that kingdom among 
 Jew and Gentile, and what were its fruits, gifts, 
 and blessings as enjoyed by its citizens. 
 
 Soon after the organization of the kingdon of 
 God at Jerusalem, Philip came to Samaria, and 
 there preached the Gospel: and when they believed 
 Philip, they were baptized, both men and women, 
 and had great joy. And afterwards Peter and 
 John came from Jerusalem, and prayed, and laid 
 their hands on them, and they received the Holy 
 Ghost. Mark here, they first believed, and then 
 were baptized, having great joy, and yet had not 
 received the Holy Ghost. But that was afterwards 
 given, by the laying on of hands and prayer, in 
 the name of Jesus. O how different from the 
 systems of men ! 
 
 Witness Paul's conversion while on his journey 
 to Damascus : the Lord Jesus appeared to him in 
 the way ; but instead of telling him his sins were 
 forgiven, and pouring the Holy Ghost upon him, 
 he sent him to Damascus, telling him that it should 
 there be told him what he should do. And coming 
 to Damascus, Ananias, being sent, commanded him 
 not to tarry, but to " arise and be baptized, and 
 wash away his sins, calling on the name of the 
 Lord;" then he arose, and was baptized, and was 
 even filled with the Holy Ghost, and straightway 
 preached that Jesus was the Christ. 
 
 Again, witness Peter going to Cornelius, a 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 70 
 
 Gentile of great piety, whose prayers were heard, 
 and whose alms were remembered, and who had 
 even attained to the ministering of an angel; yet 
 with all his piety, and the Holy Ghost poured 
 out upon him and his friends, before they were 
 baptized, they must be baptized, or they could 
 not be saved. Why? because the Lord had com- 
 manded the Apostles to preach to every creature, 
 and every creature who would not believe and be 
 baptized should be damned, without one excep- 
 tion. Witness the words of the angel to Corne- 
 lius: "He (Peter) shall tell thee words whereby 
 thou and all thy house shall be saved." Now, 
 query, could Cornelius have been saved without 
 obeying the words of Peter? If so, the angel's 
 errand was in vain. 
 
 Now, perhaps a minister, who should find a 
 man as good as Cornelius was, would say to him, 
 " Go on, brother, you can be saved, you have expe- 
 rienced religion, you may indeed be baptized to 
 answer a good conscience, if you feel it your duty ; 
 or if not, it is 110 matter, a new heart is all that 
 is really necessary to salvation," &c. ; as much as 
 to say, that the commandments of Jesus are not 
 absolutely necersary to salvation ; a man may call 
 him Lord, Lord, and be saved, just as well as by 
 keeping his commandments. Oh vain and foolish 
 doctrine ! Oh ye children of men, how have you 
 perverted the Gospel ! In vain do ye call him 
 Lord, Lord, and do not obey His commandments. 
 
 Next, we call to mind the jailor and his house- 
 hold, who were baptized the same hour they 
 
80 THE KINGDOM OF GOD, 
 
 believed, without waiting for the day; and Lydia 
 and her household, who attended to the ordi- 
 nance the first sermon they heard on the subject. 
 Also, Philip and the Eunuch, who stopped the 
 chariot at the first water they came to, in order 
 to attend to the ordinance, although the Eunuch 
 had heard of Jesus for the first time only a few 
 minutes before. Now, I gather from all those ex- 
 amples of ancient days, and from the precepts 
 laid down in them, that baptism was the initiating 
 ordinance, by which all those who believed and 
 repented were received and adopted into the 
 Church or kingdom of God, so as to be entitled 
 to the remission of sins and the blessing of the 
 Holy Ghost ; indeed it was the ordinance through 
 which they became sons and daughters; and 
 because they were sons, the Lord shed forth the 
 spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, 
 father. It is true, the Lord poured out the Holy 
 Ghost upon Cornelius and his friends before they 
 were baptized ; but it seemed necessary, in order 
 to convince the believing Jews that the Gentiles 
 also had part in this salvation. And I believe 
 this is the only instance, in the whole record, of 
 the people receiving the Holy Ghost without first 
 obeying the laws of adoption. 
 
 But mark ! obeying the laws of adoption would 
 not constitute a man an heir of the kingdom, a citi- 
 zen entitled to the blessings and gifts of the Spirit, 
 unless these laws and ordinances were administer- 
 ed by one who had proper authority, and was duly 
 commissioned from the King; and a commission 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 81 
 
 given to one individual could never authorize 
 another to act in his stead. This is one of the most 
 important points to be understood, as it brings to 
 the test every minister in Christendom, and ques- 
 tions the organization of every church on earth, and 
 all that have existed since direct inspiration ceased. 
 Now, in order to come at this subject in plain- 
 ness, let us examine the constitution of earthly 
 governments in regard to the authority and laws 
 of adoption. We will say, for instance, the Pre- 
 sident of the United States writes a commission 
 to A. B., duly authorizing him to act in some office 
 in the government, and, during his administration, 
 two gentlemen from Europe come to reside in this 
 country, and, being strangers and foreigners wish- 
 ing to become citizens, they go before A. B., and 
 he administers the oath of allegiance in due form, 
 and certifies the same, and this constitutes them 
 legal citizens, entitled to all the privileges of those 
 who are citizens or subjects by birth. After these 
 things A. B. is taken away by death, and C. D., 
 in looking over his papers, happens to find the 
 commission given to A. B., and, applying it to his 
 own use, assumes the vacant office ; meantime, 
 two foreigners arrive, and apply for citizenship, 
 and being informed by persons ignorant of the 
 affairs of government that C. D. could administer 
 the laws of adoption, they submit to be adminis- 
 tered unto by C. D., without once examining his 
 authority; C. D. certifies of their citizenship, and 
 they suppose they have been legally adopted, 
 the same as the others, and are entitled to all 
 
 E 
 
82 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 the privileges of citizenship. But by and by, their 
 citizenship is called in question, and they produce 
 the certificate of C. D.; the President inquires, 
 " Who is C. D.? I never gave him a commission 
 to act in my office, I know him not, and you are 
 strangers and foreigners to the commonwealth, 
 until you go before the legal by appointed successor 
 of A. B., or some other of like authority, who has 
 a commission from the President direct in his 
 own name." In the mean time, C. D. is taken 
 and punished according to law, for practising im- 
 position, and usurping authority which was never 
 conferred upon him. And so it is with the king- 
 dom of God. The Lord authorized the Apostles 
 and others, by direct Revelation, and by the spirit 
 of Prophecy, to preach and baptize, and build up 
 his Church and kingdom ; but after a while they 
 died, and a long time passed away, and men 
 reading over their commission, where it says to 
 the eleven Apostles, "Go ye into all the world 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature," &c., 
 have had the presumption to apply these sayings 
 as their authority, and, without any other com- 
 mission, have gone forth professing to preach the 
 Gospel, and baptize, and build up the church and 
 kingdom of God ; but those whom they baptize 
 never receive the same blessings and gifts which 
 characterized a Saint or citizen of the kingdom in 
 the days of the Apostles. Why? Because they 
 are yet foreigners and strangers, for the com- 
 mission given to the Apostles never commissioned 
 anv other man to act in their stead. This was a 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 83 
 
 prerogative the Lord reserved unto himself. No 
 man has a right to take this ministry upon him- 
 self, but he that is called by revelation, and duly 
 qualified to act in his calling by the Holy Ghost. 
 But the reader inquires with astonishment, What! 
 are none of all the ministers of the present day 
 called to the ministry, and legally commissioned? 
 Well, my reader, I will tell you how you may 
 ascertain from their own mouths, and that will be 
 far better than an answer from me ; go to the 
 clergy, and ask them if God has given any direct 
 revelation since the New Testament was finished ; 
 inquire of them whether the gift of prophecy ceased 
 with the early age of the Church ; and, in short, 
 ask them if revelations, prophets, the ministering 
 of angels, &c., are needed or expected in these 
 days, or whether they believe that these things are 
 done away, no more to return to the earth ; and 
 their answer will be that the Bible contains suf- 
 ficient, and that since the canon of Scripture was 
 filled, revelation, the spirit of prophecy, and the 
 ministering of angels have ceased, because no 
 longer needed. In short, they will denounce every 
 man as an impostor who pretends to any such thing. 
 And when you have obtained this answer, ask them 
 how they themselves were called and commissioned 
 to preach the Gospel, and they will be at a . 
 loss to answer you, and will finally tell you 
 that the Bible commissioned them, saying, 
 "Go ye into all the world," &c. Thus, you 
 see, all who have no direct personal revelation 
 from the King of heaven, either by angels, the 
 
84 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 voice of God, or the spirit of prophecy, are act- 
 ing under authority which was given to others, who 
 are dead, and their commission stolen, and their 
 authority usurped ; and the King will say, "Peter 
 I know, and Paul I know, I commissioned them, 
 but who are you? I know you not, I never spoke 
 to you in my life ; indeed you believed it was not 
 necessary for me to speak in your day. There- 
 fore you never sought in faith for any revelation, 
 and I never gave you any, and even when I spake 
 to others, you mocked them, and called them im- 
 postors, and persecuted them, because they testified 
 of the things I had said unto them; therefore, 
 depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, 
 prepared for the devil and his angels : for I was 
 an hungered, and ye fed me not; I was naked, 
 and ye clothed me not ; I was a stranger, and ye 
 took me not in ; sick and in prison, and ye visited 
 me not." "Ah ! Lord, when did we fail in any of 
 these things?" "Inasmuch as you have not done 
 it unto the least of these my brethren (taking 
 them for impostors, because they testified of the 
 things which I had revealed unto them), ye have 
 not done it unto me." But to return: having 
 examined the kingdom of God as to its offices 
 and ordinances, and having discovered the only 
 means of adoption into it, let us examine more 
 fully what are the blessings, privileges, and en- 
 joyments of its citizens. You have already seen 
 that they were to cast out devils, speak with new 
 tongues, heal the sick by the laying on of hands 
 in the name of Jesus, as well as to see visions, 
 dream dreams, prophesy, &c, 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 5 
 
 But let us look at the kingdom in its organized 
 state, and see whether these promises were veri- 
 fied to Jew and Gentile, wherever the kingdom 
 of God was found in all ages of the world. 
 Paul, writing, 
 
 First, " To the church of God at Corinth." 
 Second, " To them that are sanctified in Christ 
 Jesus." 
 
 Third, " To them who are called to be saints." 
 And fourth, " To all that in every place call 
 on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," says to 
 them all, in 1 Corinthians xii. 1; "Now con- 
 cerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have 
 you ignorant." And then, continuing his instruc- 
 tions, a few verses further on he says, "But the 
 manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man 
 to profit withal. For to one is given by the 
 Spirit the word of wisdom ; to another the word 
 of knowledge by the same Spirit ; to another faith 
 by the same Spirit ; to another the gifts of healing 
 by the same Spirit ; to another the working of 
 miracles; to another prophecy; to another dis- 
 cerning of spirits ; to another divers kinds of 
 tongues ; to another the interpretation of tongues ; 
 but all these worketh that one and the self-same 
 Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he 
 (Christ) will. For as the body is one, and hath 
 many members, and all the members of that one 
 body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 
 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one 
 body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether 
 we be bond or free ; and have been all made to 
 
86 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one 
 member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because 
 I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it 
 therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall 
 say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the 
 body; is it therefore not of the body? If the 
 whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? 
 If the whole were hearing, where were the smell- 
 ing? But now hath God set the members every 
 one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 
 And if they were all one member, where were the 
 body?" I reply, it would not exist. " But now 
 are they many members, yet but one body. And 
 the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need 
 of thee ; nor again, the head to the feet, I have 
 no need of you. Nay, much more, those members 
 of the body which seem to be more feeble, are 
 necessary; and those members of the body which 
 we think to be less honourable, upon these we 
 bestow more abundant honour ; and our uncomely 
 parts have more abundant comeliness. For our 
 comely parts have no need: but God hath tem- 
 pered the body together, having given more abun- 
 dant honour to that part which lacked : that there 
 should be no schism in the body ; but that the 
 members should have the same care one for an- 
 other. And whether one member suffer, all the 
 members suffer with it; or one member be honour- 
 ed, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye 
 are the body of Christ and members in particular. 
 And God hath set some in the church, first, 
 apostles; secondarily, prophets ; thirdly , teachers ; 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 87 
 
 after that miracles ; then gifts of healings, helps, 
 governments, diversities of tongues. Are all 
 apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers ? are 
 all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of 
 healing? do all speak with tongues? do all inter- 
 pret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and 
 yet shew I unto you a more excellent way." 
 From the 13th verse of the above chapter we 
 learn that the Apostle is still speaking to the 
 whole church in all ages, whether Jew or Gentile, 
 bond or free, even all who should ever compose 
 the body of Christ; and showing that Christ's 
 body consisted of many members, baptized by one 
 Spirit into one body, possessing all these different 
 gifts, some one gift and some another : and then 
 expressly says, that one member possessing one 
 gift should not say to another member possessing 
 another gift, We have need of thee. 
 
 And having shown that it required Apostles, 
 Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers; 
 together with the gifts of prophecy, miracles, heal- 
 ing, and all other gifts, to compose the church, or 
 body of Christ, in any age, whether Jew or Gen- 
 tile, bond or free : and having utterly forbidden 
 any of the members ever to say of any of these 
 gifts, " We have no need of thee," he declares 
 the body never could be perfected without all of 
 them, and that if they were done away there 
 would be no body, that is, no church of Christ in 
 existence. Having shown all these things clearly, 
 he exhorts them to covet earnestly the best gifts. 
 And in the 13th chapter exhorts them to faith, 
 
88 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 hope, and charity, without which all these gifts 
 would avail them nothing: and in the 14th chap- 
 ter repeats the exhortation, " Follow after charity, 
 and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may 
 prophesy." Again, in Ephesians i. 17, Paul 
 prays that the Lord would give unto the Church 
 the Spirit of WISDOM and of REVELATION in the 
 KNOWLEDGE of God. Again, Ephesians iv., he 
 tells them, there is one body and one Lord, one 
 Spirit, one Faith, and one Baptism ; and that 
 Christ ascended up on high, led captivity captive, 
 and gave gifts to men. And he gave some, 
 Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evan- 
 gelists ; and some, Pastors and Teachers. And 
 if the reader inquire, what these gifts or offices 
 were for, let him read the^ 12th verse : " For the 
 perfecting of the saints; for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. ' : 
 And if he inquire how long these were to continue, 
 the 13th verse says, "Till we all come in the 
 unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
 Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure 
 of the stature of the fulness of Christ." And if 
 he still inquire what further object Christ had in 
 giving these gifts, let him read the 14th verse : 
 " That we henceforth be no more children, tossed 
 to and fro, and carried about with every wind of 
 doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning 
 craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." 
 
 Now, without these gifts and offices, first, the 
 Saints cannot be -perfected ; second, the work of 
 the ministry cannot proceed ; third, the body of 
 
THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 89 
 
 Christ cannot be edified; and fourth, there is 
 nothing to prevent them from being carried about 
 with every wind of doctrine. Now I boldly de- 
 clare that the cause of all the division, confusion, 
 jars, discord, and animosities; and the fruitful 
 source of so many faiths, lords, baptisms, and 
 spirits ; and of the understanding being darkened ; 
 and of men being alienated from the life of God, 
 through the ignorance that is in them, because of 
 the blindness of their hearts, is, because they have 
 neither Apostles, Prophets, nor gifts, inspired 
 from on high, to whom they give heed; for if 
 they had such gifts, and would give heed unto 
 them, they would be built up in one body, in the 
 pure doctrine of Christ, having one Lord, one 
 faith, one baptism, and one hope of their calling ; 
 yea, they would be edified, built up into Christ in 
 all things, in whom the whole body, fitly joined 
 together, would grow into an holy temple in the 
 Lord. 
 
 But so long as the cunning craftiness of men 
 can persuade them that they have no need of these 
 things, so long as they can toss them about with 
 every wind of doctrine, just as they please. 
 
 Now, reader, I have done our examination of 
 the kingdon of God, as it existed in the Apostles' 
 days; and we cannot look at it in any other age, 
 until renewed again in the last days, for it never 
 did, nor never will, exist, without Apostles and 
 Prophets, and all the other gifts of the Spirit. 
 
 Were we to take a view of the churches, from 
 the clays that inspiration ceased until now, we 
 
90 THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 should see nothing like the kingdom which we 
 have been viewing with such admiration and 
 delight. But instead of Apostles and Prophets, 
 we should see false teachers, whom men had 
 heaped to themselves ; and instead of the gifts of 
 the Spirit, we should see the wisdom of men ; and 
 instead of the Holy Ghost, many false spirits; 
 instead of the ordinances of God, commandments 
 of men; instead of knowledge, opinion; guess 
 work, instead of revelation; division, instead of 
 union; doubt, instead of faith; despair, instead 
 of hope ; hatred, instead of charity ; a physician, 
 instead of the laying on of hands for the healing 
 of the sick; fables, instead of truth; evil for 
 good, good for evil ; darkness for light, light for 
 darkness ; and, in a word, anti-christ instead of 
 . Christ; the powers of earth having made war with 
 the Saints, and overcome them, until the words of 
 God should be fulfilled. O my God, shut up the 
 vision ! for my heart sickens while I gaze ; and 
 let the day hasten on when the earth shall be 
 cleansed by fire from such awful pollutions : but 
 first, let thy promise be fulfilled, which thou didst 
 make by the mouth of thy servant John, that thou 
 wouldst call thy people out of her, saying, "Come 
 out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of 
 her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues;" 
 and then, O Lord, when thou hast called thy 
 people out from the midst of her, by the fishers 
 and hunters whom thou hast 'promised to send in 
 the last days to gather Israel ; yea, when thine 
 everlasting covenant has been renewed, and thy 
 
THE BOOK OF MORMON. 91 
 
 people established thereby ; than let her plagues 
 come in one day, death, mourning, and famine ; let 
 her be burned with fire ; that thy holy Apostles 
 and Prophets, and all that fear thy name, small 
 and great, may rejoice, because thou hast avenged 
 the blood of the Saints upon her. I ask these 
 things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BOOK OF MORMON ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN 
 
 INDIANS, ETC. 
 
 I Ye gloomy scenes, far hence, intrude no more ! 
 
 Sublimer themes invite the muse to soar 
 In loftier strains, while scenes both strange and new 
 Burst on the sight, and open to the view. 
 Lo ! from the opening heavens, in bright array, 
 An angel Conies to earth he bends his way : 
 Reveals to man, in power, as at the first, 
 The fulness of the Gospel long since lost. 
 
 See earth, obedient, from its bosom yield 
 The sacred truth it faithfully concealed. 
 The wise, confounded, startle at the sight, 
 The proud and haughty tremble with affright. 
 
 The hireling priests against the truth engage, 
 While hell bene <th stands trembling, filled with rage ; 
 False are their hopes, and all their struggles vain, 
 Their craft must fall, and with it all their gain; 
 The deaf must hear, the meek their joy increase; 
 The poor be glad, and their oppression cease. 
 
 WHILE darkness covered the earth, and gross dark- 
 ness the people, every man walking in is own 
 way, and looking for gain from his quarter, the 
 Lord, having for a long time held His peace, and 
 
92 THK BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 the people having fondly flattered themselves that 
 the voice of inspiration would never again sound 
 in the ears of mortals, to disturb or molest them in 
 their sinful career; while a few were looking for 
 the consolation of Israel, and crying to God for 
 the ushering in of that long-expected day, when 
 an angel should fly through the midst of heaven, 
 having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them 
 that dwell on the earth suddenly, a voice is heard 
 from the wilderness, a cry salutes the ears of mor- 
 tals, a testimony is heard among them, piercing 
 to the inmost recesses of their hearts, when all at 
 once the heathen begin to rage, and the people to 
 imagine a vain thing ; the clergy lift a warning 
 voice, crying, Impostor, false prophets, beware of 
 delusion, &c. ; while the professor of religion, the 
 drunkard, the swearer, the learned, and the igno- 
 rant soon catch the sound, and reiterate it again 
 and again. Thus it re-echoes from one end of our 
 country to the other for a long time, and if any 
 one should be so fortunate as to retain his sober 
 senses, and should candidly inquire, "What is the 
 matter?" the reply is, "We hardly know anything 
 about it, but suffice it to say, some fellows have 
 made their appearance, Paul like, who testify 
 something about the ministering of angels, or some 
 revelation or inspiration, just as though the reli- 
 gion of ancient days, and the faith once delivered 
 to the Saints, were returning to the earth in this 
 enlightened age ; so that not only this our craft is 
 in danger, but our modern systems of religion, 
 built upon the wisdom and learning of men, 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 93 
 
 without direct inspiration, are like to be spoken 
 against, and their great magnificence despised, 
 though worshipped by all the world." And then 
 all again cry with a loud voice, saying, " Great is 
 the wisdom of man; great are the systems of 
 modern divinity ; great is the wisdom of unin- 
 spired piiests, who come unto us with excellency 
 of speech, and with man's wisdom, determined to 
 know nothing among us save opinions and creeds 
 of their own; and their speech and then- preach- 
 ing are with enticing words of man's wisdom, 
 not in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 
 for that is done away, that our faith should not 
 stand in the power of God, but in the wisdom 
 of man." 
 
 In the midst of the noise and clamour and pre- 
 judice of an opposing world, it is difficult to get 
 the people to understand the facts of the case, in 
 relation to one of the most important subjects 
 ever presented to the consideration of mankind. 
 
 The Book of Mormon has perhaps been less 
 understood, and more misrepresented, by the 
 world at large, than any other publication which 
 has ever appeared. 
 
 America and England have, as it were, been 
 flooded with publications against the said book ; 
 and many of them written by those who had 
 never seen the book, or by those who had only 
 read a page or two in it, or slightly looked it 
 through with a biassed mind, and a determination 
 to find fault. By some of these it has been repre- 
 sented as a romance : by others as a new Bible, 
 
94 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 calculated to displace the Bible, or do away with 
 it. Some have pronounced it a " silly mess of 
 stuff," not worth the perusal; and others, the 
 most ingenious literary work ever put together. 
 Some have found fault with it for being so much 
 like the Bible, and agreeing with it ; and others 
 have condemned it for not being sufficiently like 
 the Bible, and for disagreeing with it. Some have 
 denounced it as notoriously corrupt, immoral, and 
 blasphemous in its principles ; and others have 
 condemned it for being so exceedingly pure and 
 moral in its principles as to be just calculated to 
 deceive. One clergyman in particular, in a tract 
 of sixty pages on this book, condemns it for being 
 " a strange mixture of faith and ivories, of the 
 mercy of God and the obedience of the creature" 
 Some literary persons have pronounced it as alto- 
 gether ancient in its style, language, and subjects, 
 and as bearing great internal evidence of its own 
 antiquity; while others have condemned it as 
 bearing every mark of being a modern production. 
 Some have said that there were no definite pre- 
 dictions of the future contained in it, by the ful- 
 filment or failure of which its prophetic merits 
 might be tested ; and others have quoted largely 
 from its most plain and pointed predictions, which 
 relate to circumstances about to be fulfilled, and 
 have condemned it on account of its plainness. 
 
 In the midst of all these jarring statements it 
 now becomes our duty to show, as far as pos- 
 sible, what the Book of Mormon really is. 
 
 When the Lord confounded the languages at 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 95 
 
 Babel, he led forth a colony from thence to the 
 western continent, which is now called America. 
 This colony, after crossing the ocean in eight 
 vessels, and landing in that country, became in 
 process of time a great nation they inhabited 
 America for some fifteen hundred years. They 
 were at length destroyed for their wickedness, 
 about six hundred years before Christ. A Prophet 
 by the name of Ether wrote their history, and 
 an account of their destruction. 
 
 Ether lived to witness their entire destruction, 
 and deposited his record where it was afterwards 
 found by a colony of Israelites, who came from 
 Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, and 
 re-peopled America. This last colony were de- 
 scendants of the tribe of Joseph ; they grew and 
 multiplied, and finally gave rise to two mighty 
 nations. One of these nations were called 
 Nephites one Nephi being their founder; the 
 other were called Lamanites, after a leader of 
 the name Laman. 
 
 The Lamanites became a dark and benighted 
 people, of whom the American Indians are still a 
 remnant. The Nephites were an enlightened and 
 civilized people, they were a people highly favoured 
 of the Lord, they had visions, angels, and the gift 
 of prophecy among them from age to age ; and, 
 finally, they were blessed with a personal appear- 
 ance of Jesus Christ after his resurrection, from 
 whose mouth they received the doctrine of the 
 Gospel, and a knowledge of the future down 
 through all succeeding ages. But after all the 
 
yb THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 blessings and privileges conferred upon them, they 
 fell into great wickedness in the third and fourth 
 centuries of the Christian era, and finally were 
 destroyed by the hands of the Lamanites. This 
 destruction took place about four hundred years 
 after Christ. 
 
 Mormon lived in that age of the world, and 
 was a Nephite, and a Prophet of the Lord. He, 
 by the commandment of the Lord, made an abridg- 
 ment of the sacred records, which contained the 
 history of his forefathers, and the prophecies and 
 Gospel which had been revealed among them; to 
 which he added a sketch of the history of his own 
 time, and the destruction of his nation. Previous 
 to his death, the abridged records fell into the 
 hands of his son Moroni, who continued them 
 down to A. D. 420 ; at which time he deposited 
 them carefully in the earth, on a hill which was then 
 called Cumorah, but is situated in Ontario county, 
 township of Manchester, and State of New York, 
 North America. This he did in order to preserve 
 them from the Lamanites, who overran the coun- 
 try, and sought to destroy them and all the 
 records pertaining to the Nephites. This record 
 lay concealed, or sealed up, from A. D. 420, to 
 Sept. . 22nd, 1827, at which time it was found 
 by Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., he being directed 
 thither by an angel of the Lord. 
 
 The following account of the discovery and 
 translation of this record is extracted from a tract 
 by Elder Orson Pratt, published at Edinburgh, 
 in 1840, entitled, '-Remarkable Visions/ &c., to 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 97 
 
 which our readers are referred for further par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 " * How far below the surface these records 
 were placed by Moroni, I am unable to say ; but 
 from the fact that they had been some fourteen 
 hundred years buried, and that, too, on the side 
 of a hill so steep, one is ready to conclude that 
 they were some feet below, as the earth would 
 naturally wear, more or less, in that length of 
 time ; but, they being placed toward the top of the 
 hill, the ground would not remove as much as 
 at two-thirds, perhaps. Another circumstance 
 would prevent a wearing of the earth ; in all pro- 
 bability, as soon as timber had tune to grow, the 
 hill was covered after the Nephites were de- 
 stroyed, and the roots of the same would hold the 
 surface; however, on this point, I shall leave 
 every man to draw his own conclusion, and form 
 his own speculation.' But suffice it to say, ' a hole 
 of sufficient depth was dug ; at the bottom of this 
 was laid a stone of suitable size, the upper surface 
 being smooth ; at each edge was placed a large 
 quantity of cement, and into this cement, at the 
 four edges of this stone, were placed erect four 
 others ; their bottom edges resting in the cement at 
 the outer edges of the first stone. The four last- 
 named, when placed erect, formed a box ; the cor- 
 ners, or where the edges of the four came in con- 
 tact, were also cemented so firmly, that the 
 moisture from without was prevented from enter- 
 ing. It is to be observed, also, that the inner 
 
98 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 surface of the four erect or side stones was 
 smooth. This box was sufficiently large to admit 
 a breast-plate, such as was used by the ancients 
 to defend the chest, &c., from the arrows and 
 weapons of their enemy. From the bottom of 
 the box, or from the breast-plate, arose three 
 small pillars, composed of the same description 
 of cement used on the edges; and upon these 
 three pillars was placed the record. * # * 
 This box, containing the record, was covered 
 with another stone, the bottom surface being flat, 
 and the upper crowning.' When it was first 
 visited by Mr. Smith, on the morning of the 22nd 
 of September, 1823, ' a part of the crowning stone 
 was visible above the surface, while the edges 
 were concealed by the soil and grass. From 
 which circumstance, it may be seen, that how- 
 ever deep this box might have been placed by 
 Moroni at first, the time had been sufficient to 
 wear the earth, so that it was easily discovered 
 when once directed, and yet not enough to make 
 a perceivable difference to the passer-by. * * 
 After arriving at the repository, a little exertion 
 in removing the soil from the edges of the top of 
 the box, and- a light pry, brought to his natural 
 vision its contents.' 
 
 " While viewing and contemplating this sacred 
 treasure with wonder and astonishment, behold ! 
 the Angel of the Lord, who had previously visited 
 him, again stood in his presence, and his soul was 
 again enlightened as it was the evening before, 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 09 
 
 and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the 
 heavens were opened, and the glory of the Lord 
 shone round about and rested upon him. ' While 
 he thus stood, gazing and admiring, the Angel 
 said, Look ! ' And as he thus spake, he beheld the 
 Prince of Darkness, surrounded by his innumerable 
 train of associates. All this passed before him, 
 and the heavenly messenger said, 'All this is 
 shown, the good and the evil, the holy and im- 
 pure, the glory of God and the power of dark- 
 ness, that you may know hereafter the two 
 powers, and never be influenced or overcome by 
 that wicked one. Behold, whatever entices and 
 leads to good, and to do good, is of God, and 
 whatever does not, is of that wicked one. It is 
 he that fills the hearts of men with evil to walk in 
 darkness, and blaspheme God; and you may learn 
 from henceforth that his ways are to destruction, 
 but the way of holiness is peace and rest. You 
 now see why you could not obtain this record, 
 that the commandment was strict, and that if 
 ever these sacred things are obtained, they must be 
 by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord. 
 They are not deposited here for the sake of accu- 
 mulating gain and wealth, for the glory of this 
 world; they were sealed by the prayer of faith, 
 and because of the knowledge which they contain, 
 they are of no worth among the children of men, 
 only for their knowledge. On them is contained the 
 fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it was given 
 to his people on this land ; and when it shall be 
 brought forth by the power of God, it shall be car- 
 
100 THE BOOK OF MOBMON. 
 
 ried to the Gentiles, of whom many will receive it, 
 and after will the seed of Israel he brought into 
 the fold of their Redeemer by obeying it also. 
 Those who kept the commandments of the Lord on 
 this land desired this at his hand, and through the 
 prayer of faith obtained the promise, that if their 
 descendants should transgress and fall away, a re- 
 cord might be kept, and in the last days come to 
 their children. These things are sacred, and 
 must be kept so, for the promise of the Lord 
 concerning them must be fulfilled. No man can 
 obtain them if his heart is impure, because they 
 contain that which is sacred. * * * By them 
 will the Lord work a great and a marvellous work ; 
 the wisdom of the wise shall become as nought, 
 and the understanding of the prudent shall be hid, 
 and because the power of God shall be displayed, 
 those who profess to know the truth, but walk in 
 deceit, shall tremble with anger ; but with signs 
 and with wonders, with gifts and with healings, 
 with the manifestations of the power of God, and 
 with the Holy Ghost, shall the hearts of the faith- 
 ful be comforted. You have now beheld the 
 power of God manifested, and the power of Sa- 
 tan ; you see that there is nothing that is desirable 
 in the works of darkness ; that they cannot bring 
 happiness ; that those who are overcome there- 
 with are miserable; while, on the other hand, the 
 righteous are blessed with a place in the kingdom 
 of God, where joy unspeakable surrounds them; 
 there they rest, beyond the power of the enemy of 
 truth, where no evil can disturb them : the glory 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 101 
 
 of God crowns them, and they continually feast 
 upon His goodness, and enjoy His smiles. Be- 
 hold, notwithstanding you have seen this great 
 display of power, by which you may ever be able 
 to detect the evil one, yet I give unto you another 
 sign, and when it comes to pass, then, know that 
 the Lord is God, and that He will fulfil his pur- 
 poses, and that the knowledge which this record 
 contains will go to every nation, and kindred, and 
 tongue, and people under the whole heaven. This 
 is the sign : when these things begin to be known, 
 that is, when it is known that the Lord has shown 
 you these things, the workers of iniquity will seek 
 your overthrow; they will circulate falsehoods to 
 destroy your reputation; and also will seek to 
 take your life ! but remember this, if you are 
 faithful, and shall hereafter continue to keep the 
 commandments of the Lord, you shall be preserved 
 to bring these things forth ; for in due time he 
 will again give you a commandment to come and 
 take them. When they are interpreted, the Lord 
 will give the Holy Priesthood to some, and they 
 shall begin to proclaim this Gospel and baptize 
 by water, and after that, they shall have power 
 to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of their 
 hands. Then will persecution rage more and 
 more ; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed, 
 and those who are not built upon the Rock will 
 seek to overthrow this church ; but it will in- 
 crease the more opposed, and spread farther and 
 farther, increasing in knowledge, till they shall be 
 sanctified, and receive an inheritance where the 
 
102 THE BOOK OF MOBMON. 
 
 glory of God will rest upon them ; and when this 
 takes place, and all things are prepared, the ten 
 tribes of Israel will be revealed in the north coun- 
 try, whither they have been for a long season ; 
 and when this is fulfilled will be brought to pass 
 that saying of the Prophet : ' And the Redeemer 
 shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from 
 transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.' But, 
 notwithstanding, the workers of iniquity shall seek 
 your destruction, the arm of the Lord will be 
 extended, and you will be borne off conqueror, if 
 you keep all His commandments. Your name 
 shall be known among the nations, for the work 
 which the Lord will perform by your hands shall 
 cause the righteous to rejoice and the wicked to 
 rage : with the one it shall be had in honour, and 
 with the other in reproach ; yet, with these it 
 shall be a terror, because of the great and mar- 
 vellous work which shall follow the coming forth 
 of this fulness of the Gospel. Now, go thy way, 
 remembering what the Lord has done for thee, 
 and be diligent in keeping His commandments, 
 and He will deliver thee from temptations, and all 
 the arts and devices of the wicked one. Forget 
 not to pray, that thy mind may become strong, 
 that when He shall manifest unto thee, thou 
 mayest have power to escape the evil, and obtain 
 these precious things.' " 
 
 We here remark, that the above quotation is 
 an extract from a letter written by Elder Oliver 
 Cowdery, which was published in one of the num- 
 bers of the " Latter-day Saints' Messenger and 
 Advocate." 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 103 
 
 Although many more instructions were given 
 by the mouth of the angel to Mr. Smith, which 
 we do not write in this book, yet the most impor- 
 tant items are contained in the foregoing relation. 
 During the period of the four following years, he 
 frequently received instruction from the mouth 
 of the heavenly messenger, and on the morning 
 of the 22nd of September, A.D. 1827, the angel 
 of the Lord delivered the records into his hands. 
 
 These records were engraved on plates which 
 had the appearance of gold. Each plate was not 
 far from seven inches in width, by eight inches in 
 length, being not quite as thick as common tin. 
 They were filled on both sides with engravings, 
 in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a 
 volume, as the leaves of a book, and fastened at 
 one edge with three rings running through the 
 whole. This volume was something near six 
 inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. 
 The characters or letters upon -the unsealed part 
 were small and beautifully engraved. The whole 
 book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its 
 construction, as well as much skill in the art of 
 engraving. With the records was found a curious 
 instrument, called by the ancients the Urim and 
 Thummim, which consisted of two transparent 
 stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a 
 bow. This was in use in ancient times by per- 
 sons called Seers. It was an instrument by the 
 use of which they received revelation of things 
 distant, or of things past or future. 
 
104 THE BOOK OF MOBMON. 
 
 In the mean time the inhabitants of that vici- 
 nity, having been informed that Mr. Smith had 
 seen heavenly visions, and that he had discovered 
 sacred records, began to ridicule and mock at 
 those things. And after having obtained 
 those sacred things, while proceeding home 
 through the wilderness and fields, he was waylaid 
 by two ruffians, who had secreted themselves for 
 the purpose of robbing him of the records. One 
 of them struck him with a club before he per- 
 ceived them ; but being a strong man, and large 
 in stature, with great exertion he cleared himself 
 from them, and ran towards home, being closely 
 pursued until he came near his father's house, 
 when his pursuers, for fear of being detected, 
 turned and fled the other way. 
 
 Soon the news of his discoveries spread abroad 
 throughout all those parts. False reports, mis- 
 representations, and base slanders flew as if upon 
 the wings of the wind in every direction. The 
 house was frequently beset by mobs and evil 
 designing persons. Several times he was shot 
 at, and very narrowly escaped. Every device 
 was used to get the plates away from him. And 
 being continually in danger of his life, from a 
 gang of abandoned wretches, he at length con- 
 cluded to leave the place, and go to Pennsylvania ; 
 and accordingly packed up his goods, putting the 
 plates into a barrel of beans, and proceeded upon 
 his journey. He had not gone far, before he was 
 overtaken by an officer with a search warrant, 
 who flattered himself with the idea that he should 
 
OB1GIN OF THE AMEKICAN INDIANS. 105 
 
 surely obtain the plates; after searching very 
 diligently, he was sadly disappointed at not 
 finding them. Mr. Smith then drove on; but 
 before he got to his journey's end, he was again 
 overtaken by an officer on the same business, and, 
 after ransacking the waggon very carefully, he 
 went his way, as much chagrined as the first at 
 not being able to discover the object of his research. 
 Without any further molestation, he pursued his 
 journey until he came into the northern part of 
 Pennsylvania, near the Susquehannah River, in 
 which part his father-in-law resided. 
 
 Having provided himself with a home, he 
 commenced translating the record, by the gift and 
 power of God, through the means of the Urim 
 and Thummim; and being a poor writer, he was 
 under the necessity of employing a scribe, to write 
 the translation as it came from his mouth. 
 
 In the meantime, a few of the original charac- 
 ters were accurately transcribed and translated 
 by Mr. Smith, which, with the translation, were 
 taken by a gentleman named Martin Harris to 
 the City of New York, where they were presented 
 to a learned gentleman named Anthon, who pro- 
 fessed to be extensively acquainted with many 
 languages, both ancient and modern. He ex- 
 amined them, but was unable to decipher them 
 correctly; but he presumed that if the original 
 records could be brought, he could assist in trans- 
 lating them. 
 
 But to return. Mr. Smith continued the work 
 of translation, as his pecuniary circumstamces 
 
106 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 would permit, until he had finished the unsealed 
 part of the records. The part translated is intitled 
 the "Book of Mormon," which contains nearly 
 as much reading as the Old Testament. 
 
 " Well," says the objector, " if it were not for the 
 marvellous, the book would be considered one of 
 the greatest discoveries the world ever witnessed. 
 If you had been ploughing, or digging a well or 
 cellar, and accidentally dug up a record containing 
 some account of the ancient histoy of the Ame- 
 rican continent, and of its original inhabitants, 
 together with the orgin of the Indian tribes who 
 now inhabit it; had this record had nothing to 
 do with God, or angels, or inspiration ; it would 
 t have been hailed by all the learned of America 
 and Europe, as one the greatest and most im- 
 portant discoveries of modern times, unfolding a 
 mystery which had, until then, bid defiance to 
 all the researches of the learned world. Every 
 newspaper would have been filled with the glad 
 tidings, while its contents would have poured 
 upon the world a flood of light, on subjects be- 
 fore concealed in the labyrinth of uncertainty and 
 doubt. But who can stoop, and so humble him- 
 self, as to receive anything, in this enlightened 
 age, renowned for its religion and learning, from 
 the ministering of angels, and from inspiration ? 
 This is too much ; away with such things ; it 
 comes in contact with the wisdom and popu- 
 larity of the day." To this I reply, The Lord 
 knew that before He revealed it; this was one 
 principal object He had in view; it is just the 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 107 
 
 manner of His dealing with the children of men ; 
 He always takes a different course from the one 
 marked out for Him by the wisdom of the world, 
 in order to "confound the wise, and bring to 
 nought the understanding of the prudent ; " He 
 chooses men of low degree, even the simple and 
 the unlearned, and those who are despised, to do 
 His work and to bring about His purposes, that 
 no flesh shall glory in His presence. O ! ye wise, 
 and ye learned, who despise the wisdom that 
 comes from above ! know ye not that it was im- 
 possible for the world by wisdom to find out 
 God? Know ye not that all your wisdom is 
 foolishness with God? Know ye not that ye 
 must become as a little child, and be willing to 
 learn wisdom from the least of His servants, or 
 you will perish in your ignorance ? 
 
 But what are the evidences which we gather 
 from Scripture concerning the coming forth of 
 this glorious work? We shall attempt to prove ; 
 first, that America is a land promised to the 
 seed of Joseph; second, that the Lord would 
 reveal to them His truth as well as to the Jews ; 
 and third, that their Record should come forth, 
 and unite its testimony, with the Record of the 
 Jews, in time for the Restoration of Israel in the 
 last days. 
 
 First, Gen. xlviii., Jacob, while blessing the 
 two sons of Joseph, says, " Let them grow into 
 a multitude in the midst of the earth." In the 
 same blessing it is said of Ephraim, " His seed 
 
108 THE BOOK OF MOKMON. 
 
 shall become a multitude of nations." Now put 
 the sense of these sayings together, and it makes 
 Ephraim a multitude of nations in the midst of 
 the earth. In Genesis xlix., it is prophesied con- 
 cerning Joseph, while Jacob was blessing him, 
 that he should be " a fruitful bough by a well, 
 whose branches run over the wall : the archers 
 have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and 
 hated him, but his bow abode in strength." 
 Again, he further says, " The blessings of thy 
 father have prevailed above the blessings of my 
 progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the ever- 
 lasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, 
 and on the crown of the head of him that was 
 separate from his brethren." Now I ask, Who 
 were Jacob's progenitors, and what was the 
 blessing they conferred upon him? Abraham and 
 Isaac were his progenitors, and the land of 
 Canaan was the blessing they conferred upon 
 him, or that God promised them he should pos- 
 sess. Recollect that Jacob confers on Joseph a 
 much greater land than that of Canaan; even 
 greater than his fathers had conferred upon him, 
 for Joseph's blessing was to extend to the utmost 
 bound of the everlasting hills. Now, reader, 
 stand in Egypt, where Jacob then stood, and 
 measure to the utmost bound of the everlasting 
 hills, and you will land somewhere in the central 
 part of America. Again, one of the Prophets 
 says, in speaking of Ephraim, " When the Lord 
 shall roar, the children of Ephraim shall tremble 
 
OttlGIN OF ?HE AMEKICAN INDIANS. 109 
 
 from the west." Now, let us sum up these say- 
 ings, and what have we gained? First, that 
 Ephraim was to grow into a multitude of nations 
 in the midst of the earth ; second, Joseph was to 
 be greatly blessed in a large inheritance, as far 
 off as America ; third, this was to be on the west 
 of Egypt or Jerusalem. 
 
 Now let the world search from pole to pole, 
 and they will not find a multitude of nations in 
 the midst of the earth who can possibly have 
 sprung from Ephraim, unless they find them in 
 America ; for the midst of all other parts of the 
 earth is inhabited by mixed races, who have 
 sprung from various sources; while here an 
 almost boundless country was secluded from the 
 rest of the world, and inhabited by a race of 
 men, evidently of the same origin, although as 
 evidently divided into many nations. Now, the 
 Scriptures cannot be broken; therefore, these 
 Scriptures must apply to America, for the plain- 
 est of reasons, they can apply to no other place. 
 
 Now, secondly, we are to prove that God re- 
 vealed himself to the seed of Joseph or Ephraim 
 their location we have already proved dwell- 
 ing in America. For this we quote Hosea viii. 
 12 ; speaking of Ephraim, he says by the spirit 
 of prophecy, " I have written to him the great 
 things of my law, but they were counted as a 
 strange thing." This is proof positive, and needs 
 no comment, that the great truths of heaven 
 were revealed unto Ephraim, and were counted 
 as a strange thing. 
 
110 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 Third Were these writings to come forth just 
 previously to the gathering of Israel ? Answer : 
 they were, according to Ezekiel, 37th chapter, 
 where God commanded him to " take one stick, 
 and write upon it, For Judah, and the children of 
 Israel, Ms companions; then take another stick, 
 and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, 
 and for all the house of Israel his companions ; 
 and join them one to another into one stick, and 
 they shall become one in thine hand. And when 
 the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, 
 saying, Wilt not thou show us what thou mean- 
 est by these? say unto them, Thus saith the 
 Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, 
 which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes 
 of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, 
 even with the stick of Judah, and make them 
 one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand ; 
 and the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in 
 thine hand before their eyes. And say unto 
 them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will 
 take the children of Israel from among the 
 heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather 
 them on every side, and bring them into their 
 own land ; and I will make them one nation in 
 the land upon the mountains of Israel ; and one 
 king shall be king to them all : and they shall be 
 no more two nations, neither shall they be di- 
 vided into two kingdoms any more at all." 
 
 Now nothing can be more plain than the 
 above prophecy : there is presented two writings, 
 the one to Ephraim, the other to Judah ; that of 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. Ill 
 
 Ephraim is to be brought forth by the Lord, and 
 put with that of Judah, and they are to become 
 one in their testimony, and grow together in this 
 manner, in order to bring about the gathering of 
 Israel. The 85th Psalm is very plain on the 
 subject: speaking of the restoration of Israel to 
 their own land, it says, " Mercy and Truth are 
 met together; Righteousness and Peace have 
 kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the 
 earth: and Righteousness shall look down from 
 heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is 
 good; and our land shall yield her increase. 
 Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set 
 us in the way of his steps." Now the Saviour, 
 while praying for his disciples, said " Sanctify 
 them through thy truth thy word is truth. 1 ' 
 From these passages we learn, that his word is 
 to spring out of the earth, while Righteousness 
 looks down from heaven. And the next thing 
 that follows is, that Israel is set in the way of 
 his steps, and partaking of the fruit of their own 
 land. Jeremiah, xxxiii. 6, speaking of the final 
 return from captivity of both Judah and Israel, 
 says, "I will reveal unto them the abundance of 
 peace and truth." And Isaiah, speaking of the 
 everlasting covenant which should gather them, 
 makes this extraordinary and very remarkable 
 expression, "Their seed shall be known amongst 
 the Gentiles, and their offspring among the 
 people." Now, reader, let me ask, can any one 
 tell, whether the Indians of America are of Israel, 
 unless by revelation from God? Therefore this 
 
112 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 was a hidden mystery, which it was necessary to 
 reveal in time for their gathering. 
 
 So much, then, we have produced from the 
 Scriptures, in proof of a work, like the book of 
 Mormon, making its appearance in these days: 
 to say nothing of Isaiah xxix. " But," says one, 
 "what is the use of the book of Mormon, even 
 if it be true?" I answer: First, it brings to light 
 an important history, before unknown to man. 
 Second, it reveals the orgin of the American 
 Indians, which was before a mystery. Third, 
 it contains important prophecies, yet to be ful- 
 filled, which immediately concern the present 
 generation. Fourth, it contains much plainness in 
 regard to points of doctrine, insomuch that all 
 may understand, and see eye to eye, if they take 
 pains to read it. 
 
 "But what are its proofs, as to chosen wit- 
 nesses, who testify to its translation by inspira- 
 tion?" For this testimony, I refer the reader to 
 the testimony of the witnesses in the first page 
 of the Book of Mormon ; he will there find as 
 positive testimony as has ever been found in the 
 other Scriptures, concerning any truth which God 
 ever revealed. Men there testify, not only that 
 they have seen and handled the plates, but that 
 an angel of God came down from heaven, and 
 presented the plates before them, while the glory 
 of God shone round about them ; and the voice 
 of God spoke from heaven, and told them that 
 these things were true, and had been translated 
 by the gift and power of God, and commanded 
 them to bear record of the same to all people. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 113 
 
 Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, He has 
 visited his people, and the day-spring from on 
 high has dawned upon our benighted world once 
 more; for no sooner had the Book been trans- 
 lated, and men begun to bear record of the same, 
 than the angel of the Lord came down from 
 heaven again, and commissioned men to preach 
 the Gospel to every creature, and to baptize with 
 water for the remission of sins. No sooner did 
 the people begin to believe their testimony, and 
 be baptized, than the Holy Ghost fell upon them, 
 through the laying on of hands in the name of 
 Jesus; and the heavens were opened; and while 
 some had the ministering of angels, others began 
 to speak in other tongues, and prophesy. From 
 that time forth, many of them were healed by 
 the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus ; and 
 thus mightily grew the word of God, and pre- 
 vailed. And thus thousands have been raised 
 up to testify that they do know for themselves, 
 and are not dependant on the testimony of any 
 man for the truth of these things, for these signs 
 follow them that believe ; and when a man believes 
 the truth, through the testimony of God's wit- 
 nesses, then these signs follow, not only them, but 
 him also ; if he has the ministering of angels, 
 if he has been healed, or heals others, by the 
 laying on of hands in the name of Jesus, or if he 
 speaks in other tongues, or prophesies, he knows 
 it for himself; and thus is fulfilled the saying of 
 Scripture, "If any man do my will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." 
 
114 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 Thus faith comes by hearing, and knowledge by 
 obeying ; but hearing comes by preaching, and 
 preaching conies by sending; as it is written, 
 "How shall they preach, except they be sent?'' 
 But there are many who say, " Show us a sign, 
 and we will believe." Remember, faith comes not 
 by signs, but signs come by faith. Gifts were 
 not given to make men believe ; but what saith 
 the Scripture, "Gifts are for the edifying of the 
 Church." If otherwise, why was it not written, 
 "Faith comes by miracles," instead of "Faith 
 comes by hearing ? " I always take it for granted, 
 that a man or woman who comes demanding a 
 sign, in order to make them believe, belongs to a 
 \\icked and adulterous generation, at least, to say 
 no worse ; for any person who will go to Jesus, 
 with a pure heart, desiring and praying in faith, 
 that he may know the truth concerning these 
 things, the Lord will reveal it to him, and he 
 shall know, and shall bear testimony, for by the 
 Spirit of God they shall know truth from error ; 
 as it is written, "My sheep hear my voice." 
 And he that will not come unto Jesus by faith, 
 shall never know the truth, until, too late, he finds 
 the harvest is over, and the summer is ended, 
 and his soul not saved. 
 
 Thus the religion of Jesus, unlike all other reli- 
 gious systems, bears its own weight, and brings 
 certainty and knowledge, leaving no room for im- 
 position. And now I say again unto all people, 
 Come unto the Father, in the name of Jesus; 
 doubt not, but be believing, as in days of old, 
 
OKIGIN OF THE AMEEICAN INDIANS. 115 
 
 and ask in faith for whatsoever you stand in need 
 of; ask not that you may consume it on your 
 lusts, but ask with a firmness not to be shaken, that 
 you will yield to no temptation, but that you will 
 keep his commandments, as fast as He makes 
 them manifest .unto you ; and if ye do this, and 
 He reveals to you that He has sent us with a new 
 and everlasting covenant, and commanded us to 
 preach, and baptize, and build up His Church as 
 in days of old, then come forward and obey the 
 truth ; but if you do not know, or are not satisfied, 
 that He has sent us, then do not embrace the doc- 
 trine we preach. Thus to your own master you 
 shall stand or fall; and one day you shall know, 
 yea, in that great day, when every knee shall bow, 
 then shall you know that God has sent us with 
 the truth, to prune His vineyard for the last time, 
 with a mighty pruning. 
 
 We shall now introduce much circumstantial 
 
 : evidence, from American antiquities, and from 
 
 I the traditions of the natives, &c. : 
 
 First, says Mr. Boudinot, "it is said among 
 their principal or beloved men, that they have it 
 
 ' handed down from their ancestors, that the Book 
 which the white people have was once theirs : 
 that while they had it they prospered exceedingly, 
 &c. They also say, that their fathers were pos- 
 sessed of an extraordinary Divine Spirit, by which 
 they foretold future events, and controlled the 
 
 " common course of nature ; and this they trans- 
 mitted to their offspring, on condition of their 
 obeying the sacred laws ; that they did, by these 
 
116 THE BOOK OF MOBMON. 
 
 means, bring down showers of blesssing upon 
 their beloved poople ; but that this power, for a 
 long time past, had entirely ceased." Colonel 
 James Smith, in his Journal, while a prisoner 
 among the natives, says, "They have a tradition, 
 that in the beginning of this continent the angels, 
 or heavenly inhabitants, as they call them, fre- 
 quently visited the people, and talked with their 
 forefathers, and gave directions how to pray. 
 
 Mr. Boudinot, in his able work, remarks con- 
 cerning their language : "Their language, in its 
 roots, idiom, and particular construction, appears 
 to have the whole genius of the Hebrew ; and what 
 is very remarkable, and well worthy of serious 
 attention, has most of the peculiarities of that 
 language, especially those in which it differs from 
 most other languages." There is a tradition re- 
 lated by an aged Indian, of the Stockbridge tribe, 
 that their fathers were once in possession of a 
 " Sacred Book," which was handed down from 
 generation to generation ; and at last hid in the 
 earth, since which time they had been under the 
 feet of their enemies. But these oracles were to 
 be restored to them again ; and then they would 
 triumph over their enemies, and regain their rights 
 and privileges. Mr. Boudinot, after recording 
 many traditions similar to the above, at length 
 remarks : " Can any man read this short account 
 of Indian traditions, drawn from tribes of various 
 nations ; from the west to the east, and from the 
 south to the north, wholly separated from each 
 other, written by different authors of the best 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 117 
 
 character, both for knowledge and integrity, pos- 
 sessing the best means of information, at various 
 and distant times, without any possible commu- 
 nication with each other ; and yet suppose that 
 all this is the effect of chance, accident, or design, 
 from a love of the marvellous, or a premeditated 
 intention of deceiving, and thereby ruining their 
 well-established reputation ? Can any one care- 
 fully, and with deep reflection, consider and com- 
 pare these traditions and nations with the position 
 and circumstances of the long lost Ten Tribes of 
 Israel, without at least drawing some presumptive 
 inferences, in favour of these wandering natives 
 being descended from the Ten Tribes of Israel ? 
 
 "Joseph Merrick, Esq., a highly respectable 
 character in Pitsfield, Mass., gave the following 
 account: That in 1815, he was levelling some 
 ground under and near a.n old wood-shed stand- 
 ing on a place of his, situated on Indian Hill. 
 He ploughed and conveyed away old chips and 
 earth to some depth. After the work was done, 
 walking over the place, he discovered, near where 
 the earth had been dug the deepest, a black strap, 
 as it appeared, about six inches in length, and one 
 and a half in breadth, and about the thickness of 
 a leather trace to a harness. He perceived it had, 
 at each end, a loop of some hard substance, 
 probably for the purpose of carrying it. He con- 
 veyed it to his house, and threw it into an old 
 tool box. He afterwards found it thrown out at 
 the door, and again conveyed it to the box. 
 
 " After some time, he thought he would examine 
 
118 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 it ; but in attempting to cut it, found it as hard 
 as bone ; he succeeded, however, in getting it open, 
 and found it was formed of two pieces of thick 
 raw hide, sewed and made water-tight with the 
 sinews of some animal, and gummed over; and 
 in the fold was contained four folded pieces of 
 parchment. They were of a dark yellow hue, and 
 contained some land of writing. The neighbours, 
 coming in to see the strange discovery, tore one 
 of the pieces to atoms, in the true Hun and Vandal 
 style. The other three pieces Mr. Merrick saved, 
 and sent them to Cambridge, where they were 
 examined, and discovered to have been written 
 with a pen, in Hebrew, plain and legible. The 
 writing on the three remaining pieces of parch- 
 ment, was quotations from the Old Testament. 
 See Deut, chap, vi.from 4th to 9th verse inclusive; 
 also chapter xi. verse 13th to 21st inclusive -and 
 Exodus, chap. xiii. llth to 16th inclusive, to 
 which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity 
 to read this most interesting discovery." 
 
 " On the banks of White river, in Arkansas 
 Territory, have been found ruins, erected no doubt 
 by an enlightened population, of the most extra- 
 ordinary character, on account of their dimensions, 
 and the materials of which they were erected. 
 One of these works is a wall of earth, which 
 encloses an area of six hundred and forty acres, 
 equal to a mile square, and having, in its centre, 
 the foundation of a large circular building, or 
 temple. Another, yet more strange, and more 
 extensive, consists of the foundations of a great 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 119 
 
 city, whose streets, crossing each other at right 
 angles, are easily traced through the mighty 
 forest. And beside these are found the founda- 
 tions of houses made of burnt bricks, like the 
 bricks of the present times. These have been 
 traced to the extent of a mile." 
 
 The foregoing is taken from Priest's American 
 Antiquities, and from the same work we extract 
 the folio whig, page 246. 
 
 Ruins of the City of Otolum, discovered in 
 North America. In a letter of C. S. Rafinesque, 
 whom we have before quoted, to a correspondent 
 in Europe, we find the following: " Some years 
 ago, the society of geography, in Paris, oifered a 
 large premium for a voyage to Guatemala, and for 
 a new survey of the antiquities of Yucatan and 
 Chiapa, chiefly those fifteen miles from Palenque." 
 
 " I have," says this author, " restored to them 
 the true name of Otolum, which is yet the name 
 of the stream running through the ruins. They 
 were surveyed by Captain Del Rio, in 1787, an 
 account of which was published in English, in 
 1822. This account describes partly the ruins of 
 a stone city, of no less dimensions than seventy- 
 five miles in circuit; length, thirty-two, and 
 breadth twelve miles, full of palaces, monuments, 
 statues, and inscriptions; one of the earliest 
 seats of American civilization; about equal to 
 Thebes of ancient Egypt." 
 
 It is stated in the Family Magazine, No. 34, p. 
 266, for 1833, as follows: "Public attention has 
 been recently excited respecting the ruins of an 
 
120 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 ancient city, found in Guatemala. It would 
 seem that these ruins are now being explored, 
 and much curious and valuable matter, in a lite- 
 rary and historical point of view, is anticipated. 
 We deem the present a most auspicious moment, 
 now that the public attention is turned to the 
 subject, to spread its contents before our readers, 
 as an introduction to future discoveries, during 
 the researches now in progress." 
 
 The following are some of the particulars, as 
 related by Captain Del Rio, who partially ex- 
 amined them, as above related, in 1787. " From 
 Palenque, the last town northward in the province 
 of Ciudad Real de Chiapa, taking a south-west- 
 erly direction, and ascending a ridge of high 
 land that divides the kingdom of Guatemala from 
 Yucatan, at the distance of six miles, is the little 
 river Micol, whose waters flow in a westerly 
 direction, and unite with the great river Tulijah, 
 which bends its course towards the province of 
 Tobasoo. Having passed Micol, the ascent be- 
 gins, and at half a league, or a mile and a half, 
 the traveller crosses a little stream called Otolum ; 
 from this point heaps of stone ruins are discovered, 
 which render the roads very difficult for another 
 half league, when you gain the height whereon 
 the stone houses are situated, being still fourteen 
 in number in one place, some more dilapidated 
 than others, yet stOl having many of their apart- 
 ments perfectly discernible. These stand on a 
 rectangular area, three hundred yards in breadth 
 by four hundred and fifty in length, which is a 
 
ORIGIN* OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 1 21 
 
 fraction over fifty-six rods wide, and eighty -four 
 rods long, being in the whole circuit two hundred 
 and eighty rods, which is three-fourths of a mile, 
 and a trifle over. This area presents a plain at the 
 base of the highest mountain forming the ridge. 
 In the centre of this plain is situated the largest 
 of the structures which has been as yet discovered 
 among these ruins. It stands on a mound, or 
 pyramid, twenty yards high, which is sixty feet, 
 or nearly four rods, in perpendicular altitude, 
 which gives it a lofty and beautiful majesty, as if 
 it were a temple suspended in the sky. This is 
 surrounded by other edifices, namely, five to the 
 northward, four to the southward, one to the 
 south-west, and three to the eastward, fourteen 
 in all. 
 
 " In all directions, the fragments of other fallen 
 buildings are seen extending along the mountain, 
 that stretches east and west either way from these 
 buildings, as if it were the great temple of wor- 
 ship, or their government -house, around which 
 they built their city, and where dwelt their kings 
 and officers of state. At this place was found a 
 subterranean stone aqueduct, of great solidity and 
 durability, which in its course passes beneath the 
 largest building." 
 
 Let it be understood, this -city of Otolum, the 
 ruins of which are so immense, is in North, not 
 South, America, in the same latitude with the 
 island of Jamaica, which is about eighteen 
 degrees north of the equator, being on the highest 
 ground between the northern end of the Caribbean 
 
122 THE BOOK OF MOBMON. 
 
 Sea and the Pacific Ocean, where the continent 
 narrows towards the Isthmus of Darien, and is 
 about eight hundred miles south of New Orleans. 
 
 The discovery of these ruins, and also of many 
 others, equally wonderful, in the same country, 
 is just commencing to arouse the attention of 
 the schools of Europe, who hitherto have denied 
 that America could boast of her antiquities. But 
 these immense ruins are now being explored, 
 under the direction of scientific persons, a history 
 of which, in detail, will, doubtless, be forth- 
 coming in due time ; two volumes of which, in 
 manuscript, we are informed, have already been 
 written, and cannot but be received with enthu- 
 siasm by Americans. 
 
 A gentleman who was living near the town of 
 Cincinnati, in 1826, on the upper level, had oc- 
 casion to sink a well for his accommodation ; he 
 persevered in digging to the depth of eighty feet, 
 without finding water, but, still persisting in the 
 attempt, his workmen found themselves obstruct- 
 ed by a substance, which resisted their labour, 
 though evidently not stone. They cleared the 
 surface and sides from the earth bedded around it, 
 when there appeared the stump of a tree, three 
 feet in diameter, and two feet high, which had 
 been cut down with an axe. The blows of the 
 axe were yet visible. It was nearly of the colour 
 and apparent character of coal, but had not the 
 friable and fusible quality of that sub stance. Ten 
 feet below the water sprang up, and the well is 
 now in constant supply and high repute. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 123 
 
 Iii Morse's Universal Geography, first volume, 
 p. 142, the discovery of the stump is corroborated ; 
 "In digging a well in Cincinnati, the .stump of 
 a tree was found in a sound state, ninety feet 
 below the surface ; and in digging another well, 
 at the same place, another stump was found, at 
 ninety-four feet below the surface, which had 
 evident marks of the axe ; and on its top there 
 appeared as if some iron tool had been consumed 
 by rust. 
 
 We might fill a volume with accounts of 
 American antiquities, all going to show that this 
 country has been inhabited by a people who pos- 
 sessed a knowledge of the arts and sciences, 
 who built cities, cultivated the earth, and who 
 were in possession of a written language. But 
 the things which we have here introduced are 
 abundantly sufficient for our purpose. If a few 
 characters in Hebrew have been found in the 
 earth in America, written 011 parchment, then it 
 is just as easy to admit that a whole volume has 
 been found in the earth in America, written on 
 plates, in Egyptian characters. The astonishing 
 facts of the stumps found eighty or ninety feet 
 under ground at Cincinnati, and similar disco- 
 veries, in many other parts of North and South 
 America, such as buried cities, and other antiqui- 
 ties, all go to prove that there has been a mighty 
 convulsion and revolution, not only of nations, 
 but of nature : and such a convulsion as is no- 
 where else so reasonably accounted for, as in the 
 following extraordinary and wonderful account of 
 
124 THE BOOK OF MOKMON. 
 
 events, which transpired in this country, during 
 the crucifixion of Messiah, which we extract from 
 the Book of Mormon, Nephi v. 2 11. 
 
 "And it came to pass, in the thirty and fourth 
 year, in the first month, in the fourth day of the 
 month, there arose a great storm, such an one as 
 never had been known in all the land; and there 
 was also a great and terrible tempest ; and there 
 was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake 
 the whole earth, as if it were about to divide 
 asunder : and there were exceeding sharp light- 
 nings, such as never had been known in all the 
 land. And the city of Zarahemla did take fire ; 
 and the city of Moroni did sink into the depths 
 of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were 
 drowned ; and the earth was carried up upon the 
 city of Moronihah, that, in the place of the city 
 thereof, there became a great mountain; and 
 there was a great and terrible destruction in the 
 land southward. But, behold, there was a more 
 great and terrible destruction in the land north- 
 ward; for, behold, the whole face of the land 
 was changed, because of the tempest, and the 
 whirlwinds, and the thunderings, and the light- 
 nings, and the exceeding great quaking of the 
 whole earth ; and the highways were broken up y 
 and the level roads were spoiled, and many 
 smooth places became rough, and many great and 
 notable cities were sunk, and many were burned, 
 and many were shook till the buildings thereof 
 had fallen to the earth, and the inhabitants thereof 
 were slain, and the places were left desolate; 
 
OKIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 125 
 
 and there were some cities which remained, but 
 the damage thereof was exceeding great ; and 
 there were many in them who were slain, and 
 there were some who were carried away in the 
 whirlwind, and whither they went no man know- 
 eth, save they know that they were carried 
 away ; and thus the face of the whole earth be- 
 came deformed, because of the tempests, and the 
 thunderiiigs, and the lightnings, and the quaking 
 of the earth. And, behold, the rocks were rent 
 in twain ; they were broken up upon the face of 
 the whole earth, insomuch that they were found 
 in broken fragments, and in seams, and in cracks, 
 upon all the face of the land. 
 
 " And it came to pass that when the thunder- 
 ings, and the Lightnings, and the storm, and the 
 tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease 
 for, behold they did last for about the space of 
 three hours ; and it was said by some that the 
 time was greater; nevertheless all these great 
 and terrible things were done in about the space 
 of three hours ; and then, behold, there was dark- 
 ness upon the face of the land. 
 
 " And it came to pass that there was a thick 
 darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch 
 that the inhabitants thereof, who had not fallen, 
 could feel the vapour of darkness; and there 
 could be 110 light because of the darkness, neither 
 candles, neither torches; neither could there be 
 fire kindled with their fine and exceeding dry 
 wood, so that there could not be any light at all ; 
 and there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor 
 
120 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the 
 stars, for so great were the mists of darkness 
 which were upon the face of the land. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that it did last for the 
 space of three days, that there was no light seen ; 
 and there was great mourning, and howling, and 
 weeping among all the people continually ; yea, 
 great were the groanings of the people, because 
 of the darkness and the great destruction which 
 had come upon them. And in one place they 
 were heard to cry, saying, O that we had repented 
 before this great and terrible day, and then would 
 our brethren have been spared, and they would 
 not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla. 
 And in another place they were heard to cry and 
 mourn, saying, O that we had. repented before 
 this great and terrible day, and had not killed 
 and stoned the prophets, and cast them out ; then 
 would our mothers, and our fair daughters, and 
 our children have been spared, and not have been 
 buried up in that great city Moronihah ; and thus 
 were the howlings of the people great and terrible. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that there was a voice 
 heard among all the inhabitants of the earth upon 
 all the face of this land, crying, Wo, wo, wo 
 unto this people ; wo unto the inhabitants of the 
 whole earth, except they shall repent; for the 
 devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of 
 the slain of the fair sons and 'daughters of my 
 people ; and it is because of their iniquity and 
 abominations that they are fallen. Behold, that 
 great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 127 
 
 the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great 
 city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depth 
 of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be 
 drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah 
 have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants 
 thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abomi- 
 nations from before my face, that the blood of 
 the prophets and the saints shall not come any 
 more unto me against them. And behold the 
 city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the 
 inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths 
 of the earth : yea, and the city of Onihah and the 
 inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and 
 the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem 
 and the inhabitants thereof, and waters have I 
 caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide 
 their wickedness and abominations from before 
 my face, that the blood of the prophets and the 
 saints shall not come up any more unto me against 
 them. And behold the city of Gadiandi, and the 
 city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the 
 city of Gimgimno, all these have I caused to b 
 sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places 
 thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried 
 up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wick- 
 edness and abominations from before my face, 
 that the blood of the prophets and the saints should 
 not come up any more unto me against them. 
 And behold that great city Jacobugath, which 
 was inhabited by the people of the king of Jacob, 
 have I caused to be burned with fire, because of 
 their sins and their wickedness, which was above 
 
128 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 all the wickedness of the whole earth, because of 
 their secret murders and combinations; for it 
 was they that did destroy the peace of my people 
 and the government of the land : therefore I did 
 cause them to be burned, to destroy them from 
 before my face, that the blood of the prophets 
 and the saints should not come up unto me any 
 more against them. And behold the city of 
 Laman, and the city of Josh, and the city of Gad, 
 and the city of Kishkumen, have I caused to be 
 burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof, 
 because of their wickedness in casting out the 
 prophets, and stoning those whom I did esiid to 
 declare unto them concerning their wickedness 
 and their abominations ; and because they did cast 
 them all out, that there were no righteous among 
 them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that 
 their wickedness and abominations might be hid 
 from before my face, that the blood of the prophets 
 and the saints whom I sent among them might 
 not cry unto me from the ground against them ; 
 and many great destructions have I caused to 
 come upon this land and upon this people, because 
 of their wickedness and their abominations. 
 
 "O all ye that are spared, because ye were 
 more righteous than they, will ye not now 
 return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be 
 converted, that I may heal you ? Yea, verily I 
 say unto you, if ye will come unto me, ye shall 
 have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is 
 extended towards you, and whosoever will come, 
 him will I receive; and blessed are those who 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 1*29 
 
 come unto me. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the 
 Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, 
 and all things that in them are. I was with the 
 Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, 
 and the Father in me ; and in me hath the Father 
 glorified his name. I came unto my own, and 
 my own received me not. And the Scriptures 
 concerning my coming are fulfilled. And as many 
 as have received me, to them have I given to 
 become the sons of God; and even so will I to 
 as many as shall believe on my name, for, behold, 
 by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law 
 of Moses fulfilled. I am the light and the life of 
 the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin- 
 ning and the end. And ye shall offer up unto me 
 no more the shedding of blood : yea, your sacri- 
 fices and your burnt-offerings shall be done away, 
 for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your 
 burnt -offerings ; and ye shall offer, for a sacrifice 
 unto me, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. 
 And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart 
 and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire 
 and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, 
 because of their faith in me, at the time of their 
 conversion, were baptized with fire and with the 
 Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. Behold, I have 
 come unto the world to bring redemption unto 
 the world, to save the world from sin ; therefore 
 whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little 
 child, him will I receive ; for of such is the king- 
 dom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down 
 my life, and have taken it up again: therefore 
 
130 THE BOOK OF MORMON. 
 
 repent and come unto me, ye ends of the earth, 
 and be saved. 
 
 " And now, behold, it came to pass that all the 
 people of the land did hear these sayings, and 
 did witness of it. And after these sayings, there 
 was silence in the land for the space of many 
 hours : for so great was the astonishment of the 
 people that they did cease lamenting and howling 
 for the loss of their kindred which had been slain ; 
 therefore there was silence in all the land for the 
 space of many hours. 
 
 "And it came to pass, that there came a voice 
 again unto the people, and all the people did hear, 
 and did witness of it, saying, O ye people of these 
 great cities which have fallen, who are descend- 
 ants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, 
 how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth 
 her chickens under her wings, and have nourished 
 you. And again, how oft would I have gathered 
 you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
 wings ; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, 
 who have fallen; yea, O ye people of the house 
 of Israel ; ye that dwell at Jerusalem, as ye that 
 have fallen : yea, how oft would I have gathered 
 you, as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye 
 would not. O ye house of Israel, whom I have 
 spared, how oft will I gather you, as a hen 
 gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will 
 repent and return unto me with full purpose of 
 heart. But if not, O house of Israel, the places 
 of your dwellings shall become desolate, until the 
 time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your 
 fathers. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 131 
 
 "And now it came to pass, that after the 
 people had heard these words, behold, they began 
 to weep and howl again, because of the loss of 
 their kindred and friends. And it came to pass 
 that thus did the three days pass away. And it 
 -was in the morning, and the darkness dispersed 
 from off the face of the land, and the earth did 
 cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend, 
 and the dreadful groanings did cease, and all the 
 tumultuous noises did pass away, and the earth 
 did cleave together again, that it stood ; and the 
 mourning, and the weeping, and the wailing of 
 the people who were spared alive did cease, and 
 their mourning was turned into joy, and their 
 lamentations into praise and thanksgiving unto 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. And 
 thus far were the Scriptures fulfilled, which had 
 been spoken by the prophets." 
 
 Here, then, is an account which shows clearly 
 and definitely how and when the American anti- 
 quities became buried ; how the stumps of treees 
 were placed eighty or ninety feet under ground ; 
 how cities were sunk and overwhelmed ; how 
 mountains fell and valleys rose ; how the rocks 
 . were rent, and how the whole face of the conti- 
 nent became altered and deformed. We now 
 close this subject by saying to all the people, If 
 you wish information on the antiquities of 
 America ; if you wish historical, prophetical, or 
 doctrinal information of the highest importance, 
 read carefully the Book of Mormon. 
 
132 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS, AND THE 
 RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS SPOKEN BY THE 
 PROPHETS. 
 
 THIS is one of the most important subjects upon 
 which the human mind can contemplate; and 
 one, perhaps, as little understood in the present 
 age, as any other now lying over the face of pro- 
 phecy. But however neglected at the present 
 time, it was once the ground-work of the faith, 
 hope, and joy of the Saints. It was a correct 
 understanding of this subject, and firm beli'ef in 
 it, that influenced all their movements. Their 
 minds once fastening upon it, they could not be 
 shaken from their purposes ; their faith was firm, 
 their joy constant, and their hope like an anchor 
 to the soul, both sure and stedfast, reaching to 
 that within the veil. It was this that enabled 
 them to rejoice in the midst of tribulation, perse- 
 cution, sword, and flame ; and in view of this 
 they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and 
 gladly wandered as strangers and pilgrims on the 
 earth. For they sought a country, a city, and 
 an inheritance that none but a Saint ever thought 
 of, understood, or even hoped for. 
 
 Now we can never understand precisely what 
 is meant by restoration, unless we understand 
 what is lost or taken away ; for instance, when 
 
AND BESTOBATION. 133 
 
 we offer to restore anything to a man, it is as 
 much as to say he once possessed it, but had lost 
 it, and we propose to replace, or put him in pos- 
 session of, that which he once had; therefore, 
 when a Prophet speaks of the restoration of all 
 things, he means that all things have undergone 
 a change, and are to be again restored to their 
 primitive order, even as they first existed. 
 
 First, then, it becomes necessary for us to take 
 a view of creation, as it rolled in purity from the 
 hand of its Creator ; and if we can discover the 
 true state in which it then existed, and under- 
 stand the changes that have taken place since, 
 then we shall be able to understand what is to be 
 restored; and thus, our minds being prepared, 
 we shall be looking for the very things which will 
 come, and shall be in 110 danger of lifting, our 
 puny arm in ignorance, to oppose the things of 
 God. 
 
 First, then, we will take a view of the earth, 
 as to its surface, local situation, and productions. 
 
 When God had created the heavens and the 
 earth, and separated the light from the darkness, 
 His next great command was to the waters, Gen. 
 i. i). " And God said, Let the waters under the 
 heaven be gathered together into one place, and 
 let the dry land appear : and it was so." From 
 this we learn a marvellous fact, which very few 
 have ever realized or believed in this benighted 
 age ; we learn that the waters, which are now 
 divided into oceans, seas, and lakes, were then all 
 gathered together into one vast ocean ; and, con- 
 
134 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 sequently, that the land, which is now torn 
 asunder, and divided into continents and islands 
 almost innumerable, was then one vast continent 
 or body, not separated as it now is. 
 
 Second, we hear the Lord God pronounce the 
 earth, as well as every thing else, very good. 
 From this we learn that there were neither deserts, 
 barren places, stagnant swamps, rough, broken, 
 rugged hills; nor vast mountains covered with 
 eternal snow; and no part of it was located in 
 the frigid zone, so as to render its climate dreary 
 and unproductive, .subject to eternal frost, or 
 everlasting chains of ice 
 
 Where no sweet flowers the dreary landscape cheer, 
 Nor plenteous harvests crown the passing year ; 
 
 but the whole earth was probably one vast plain, 
 or interspersed with gently rising hills, and sloping 
 vales, well calculated for cultivation; while its 
 climate was delightfully varied, with the moderate 
 changes of heat and cold, of wet and dry, which 
 only tended to crown the varied year with the 
 greater variety of productions, all for the good of 
 man, animal, fowl, or creeping thing ; while from 
 the flowery plain, or spicy grove, sweet odours 
 were wafted on every breeze; and all the vast 
 creation of animated being breathed nought but 
 health, and peace, and joy. 
 
 Next, we learn from Gen. i. 29, 30, " And 
 God said, Behold, I have given you every herb 
 bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the 
 earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a 
 
AND RESTORATION. 135 
 
 tree, yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 
 And to every beast of the earth, and to every 
 fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth 
 upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given 
 every green herb for meat: and it was so." From 
 these verses we learn, that the earth yielded 
 neither noxious weeds nor poisonous plants, nor 
 useless thorns and thistles; indeed every tiling 
 that grew was just calculated for the food of man, 
 beast, fowl, and creeping thing; and their food 
 was all vegetable. Flesh and blood were never 
 sacrificed, to glut their souls, or gratify their 
 appetites; the beasts of the earth were all in 
 perfect harmony with each other; the lion ate 
 straw like the ox, the wolf dwelt with the lamb, 
 the leopard 'ay down with the kid, the cow and 
 bear fed together in the same pasture, while 
 their young ones reposed, in perfect security, 
 under the shade of the same trees ; all was peace 
 and harmony, and nothing to hurt nor disturb, 
 in all the holy mountain. 
 
 And to crown the whole, we behold man, created 
 in the image of God, and exalted in dignity and 
 power, having dominion over all the vast creation 
 of animated beings ^vliich swarmed through the 
 earth, while, at the same time, he inhabited a 
 beautiful and well-watered garden, in the midst 
 of which stood the tree of life, to which he had 
 free access ; while he stood in the presence of his 
 Maker, conversed with Him face to face, and 
 gazed upon His glory, without a dimming veil 
 between. O reader, contemplate, for a moment, 
 
136 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 
 this beautiful creation, clothed with peace and 
 plenty ; the earth teeming with harmless animals, 
 rejoicing over all the plain ; the air swarming with 
 delightful hirds, whose never-ceasing notes filled 
 the air with varied melody ; and all in subjection 
 to their rightful sovereign, who rejoiced over 
 them; while in a delightful garden, the capitol 
 of creation, man was seated on the throne of this 
 vast empire, swaying his sceptre over all the earth 
 with undisputed right; while legions of angels 
 encamped round about him, and joined their glad 
 voices, in grateful songs of praise, and shouts of 
 joy ; neither a sigh nor groan was heard through- 
 out the vast expanse ; neither were there sorrow, 
 tears, pain, weeping, sickness, nor death ; neither 
 contentions, wars, nor bloodshed ; but peace 
 crowned the seasons as they rolled, and life, joy, 
 and love reigned over all God's works. But, Oh, 
 how changed the scene. 
 
 It now becomes my painful duty, to trace some 
 of the important changes which have taken place, 
 and the causes which have conspired to reduce 
 the earth and its inhabitants to their present 
 state. 
 
 First, man fell from his sending before God, 
 by giving heed to temptation ; and this fall 
 affected the whole creation, as well as man, and 
 caused various changes to take place; he was 
 banished from the presence of his Creator, and a 
 veil was drawn between them, and man was 
 driven from the Garden of Eden to till the earth, 
 which was then cursed for his sake, and should 
 
AND EESTORATION. 187 
 
 begin to bring forth thorns and thistles ; and with 
 the sweat of his face he should earn his bread, 
 and in sorrow eat of it all the days of his life, 
 and finally return to dust. But as to Eve, her 
 curse was a great multiplicity of sorrow and con- 
 ception; and between her seed and the seed of 
 the serpent there was to be a constant enmity, it 
 should bruise the serpent's head, and the serpent 
 should bruise his heel. 
 
 Now, reader, contemplate the change. This 
 scene, which was so beautiful a little before, had 
 now become the abode of sorrow and toil, of 
 death and mourning : the earth groaning with its 
 production of accursed thorns and thistles ; man 
 and beast at enmity; the serpent slily creeping 
 away, fearing lest his head should get the deadly 
 bruise ; and man startling amid the thorny path, 
 in fear lest the serpent's fangs should pierce his 
 heel ; while the lamb yields his blood upon the 
 smoking altar. Soon man begins to persecute, 
 hate, and murder his fellow, until at length the 
 earth is filled with violence, all flesh becomes 
 corrupt, the powers of darkness prevail, and it 
 repented Noah that God had made man, and it 
 grieved him at his heart, because the Lord 
 should come out in vengeance, and cleanse the 
 earth by water. 
 
 How far the flood may have contributed to 
 produce the various changes, as to the division 
 of the earth into broken fragments, islands and 
 continents, mountains and valleys, we have not 
 been informed ; the change must have been con- 
 
l$ft THE RESURRECTION 
 
 siderable. But after the flood, in the days of 
 Peleg, the earth was divided. See Gen. x. 25. 
 A short history, to be sure, of so great an event; 
 but still it will account for the mighty revolution 
 which rolled the sea from its own place in the 
 north, and brought it to interpose between different 
 portions of the earth, which were thus parted 
 asunder, and moved into something near their 
 present form; this, together with the earthquakes, 
 revolutions, and commotions which have since 
 taken place, have all contributed to reduce the 
 face of the earth to its present state; while the 
 great curses which have fallen upon different 
 portions, because of the wickedness of men, will 
 account for the stagnant swamps, the sunken 
 lakes, the dead seas, and great deserts ; witness, 
 for instance, the denunciations of the Prophets 
 upon Babylon ; how it was to become perpetual 
 desolations, a den of wild beasts, a dwelling of 
 unclean and hateful birds, a place for owls ; and 
 should never be inhabited, but should lie desolate 
 from generation to generation. Witness also the 
 plains of Sodom, filled with towns, cities, and 
 flourishing gardens, well watered; but Oh, how 
 changed ! a vast sea of stagnant water alone marks 
 the place. Witness the land of Palestine, in the 
 days of Solomon : it was capable of sustaining 
 millions of people, besides yielding a surplus of 
 wheat, and other productions, which were ex- 
 changed with the neighbouring nations; whereas, 
 now it is desolate, and hardly capable of sustain- 
 ing a few miserable inhabitants, And when I 
 
AND RESTORATION. 139 
 
 cast mine eyes over our own land, and see the 
 numerous swamps, lakes, and ponds of stagnant 
 waters, together with the vast mountains, and 
 innumerable rough places, rocks having been rent, 
 and torn asunder, from centre to circumference, 
 I exclaim, Whence all this ? 
 
 When I read the book of Mormon, it informs 
 me, that while Christ was crucified among the 
 Jews, this whole American continent was shaken 
 to its foundation, that many cities were sunk, 
 and waters came up in their places ; that the 
 rocks were all rent in twain; that mountains 
 were thrown up to an exceeding height; and 
 other mountains became valleys ; the level roads 
 spoiled, and the whole face of the land changed. 
 I then exclaim, These things are no longer a 
 mystery ; I have now learned to account for the 
 many wonders, which I everywhere behold, 
 throughout our whole country. When I am 
 passing a ledge of rocks, and see they have all 
 been rent and torn asunder, while some huge 
 fragments are found deeply imbedded in the earth, 
 some rods from whence they were torn, I exclaim, 
 with astonishment, These were the groans ! the 
 convulsive throes of agonizing nature ! while the 
 Son of God suffered upon the cross ! 
 
 But men have degenerated, and greatly changed, 
 as well as the earth. The sins, the abomina- 
 tions, and the many evil habits of the latter ages 
 have added to the miseries, toils, and sufferings 
 of human life. The idleness, extravagance, 
 pride, covetousness, drunkenness, and other 
 
140 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 abominations, which are characteristics of the 
 latter times, have all combined to sink mankind 
 to the lowest state of wretchedness and degrada- 
 tion; while priestcraft and false doctrines have 
 greatly tended to lull mankind to sleep, and 
 cause them to rest infinitely short of the powers 
 and attainments which the ancients enjoyed, and 
 which are alone calculated to exalt the intellectual 
 powers of the human mind, to establish noble 
 and generous sentiments, to enlarge the heart, 
 and to expand the soul to the utmost extent of 
 its capacity. Witness the ancients, conversing 
 with the Great Jehovah, learning lessons from 
 the angels, and receiving instruction by the 
 Holy Ghost, in dreams by night, and visions by 
 day, until at length the veil is taken off, and they 
 are permitted to gaze, with wonder and admira- 
 tion, upon all things past and future ; yea, even 
 to soar aloft amid unnumbered worlds, while the 
 vast expanse of eternity stands open before them, 
 and they contemplate the mighty works of the 
 Great I AM, until they know as they are known, 
 and see as they are seen. 
 
 Compare this intelligence with the low 
 smatterings of education and worldly wisdom 
 which seem to satisfy the narrow mind of men 
 in our generation ; yea, behold the narrow-minded, 
 calculating, trading, over-reaching, penurious 
 sycophant of the nineteenth century, who dreams 
 of nothing here but how to increase his goods, 
 or take advantage of his neighbour ; and whose 
 only religious exercises or duties consist of going 
 
AND RESTORATION. 141 
 
 to meeting, paying the priest his hire, or praying 
 to his God, without expecting to be heard or 
 answered, supposing that God has been deaf and 
 dumb for many centuries, or altogether stupid 
 and indifferent like himself. And having seen 
 the two contrasted, you will be able to form 
 some idea of the vast elevation from which man 
 has fallen ; you will also learn, how infinitely 
 beneath his former glory and dignity he is now 
 living; and your heart will mourn, and be ex- 
 ceedingly sorrowful, when you contemplate him 
 in his low estate, and then think he is your 
 brother ; and you will be ready to exclaim, with 
 wonder and astonishment, " Oh, man ! how art 
 thou fallen ! Once thou wast the favourite of 
 heaven; thy Maker delighted to converse with 
 thee, and angels, and the spirits of just men 
 made perfect, were thy companions; but now 
 thou art degraded, and brought down to a level 
 with the beasts ; yea, far beneath them, for they 
 look with horror and affright at your vain amuse- 
 ments, your sports, and your drunkenness, and 
 thus often set an example worthy of your imita- 
 tion. Well did the apostle Peter say of you, 
 that you know nothing, only what you know 
 naturally as brute beasts, made to be taken and 
 destroyed. And thus you perish, from genera- 
 tion to generation, while all creation groans 
 under its pollution; and sorrow and death, 
 mourning and weeping, fill up the measure of 
 the days of man." But, Oh my soul, dwell no 
 longer on this awful scene : let it suffice to have 
 
142 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 discovered in some degree what is lost. Let us 
 turn our attention to what the Prophets have said 
 should be restored. 
 
 The Apostle Peter, while preaching to the 
 Jews, says, "And he shall send Jesus Christ, 
 which before was preached unto you, whom the 
 heavens must receive, until the times of restitution 
 (restoration) of all things which God hath spoken, 
 by the mouth of all His holy Prophets, since the 
 world began." It appears from the above, that 
 all the holy Prophets, from Adam to Christ, 
 and those that followed after, had their eyes 
 upon a certain time, when all things should be 
 restored to their primitive beauty and excellence. 
 We also learn, that the time of restitution was 
 to be at or near the time of Christ's second 
 coming; for the heavens are to receive him, 
 until the times of restitution, and then the Father 
 shall send him again to the earth. 
 
 We will now proceed to notice Isaiah xl. 1 5. 
 u Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your 
 God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and 
 cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, 
 that her iniquity is pardoned ; for she hath 
 received of the Lord's hand double for all her 
 sins. The voice of him that crieth in the 
 wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
 make straight in the desert a highway for our 
 God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low; and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough 
 places plain ; and the glory of the Lord shall 
 
 
AND KESTOKATION. 143 
 
 be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together ; 
 for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 From these verses we learn, first, that the 
 voice of one shall be heard in the wilderness, to 
 prepare the way of the Lord, just at the time 
 when Jerusalem has been trodden down of the 
 Gentiles long enough to have received, at the 
 Lord's hand, double for all her sins, yea, when 
 the warfare of Jerusalem is accomplished, and 
 her iniquities pardoned. Then shall this pro- 
 clamation be made as it was before by John, yea, 
 a second proclamation, to prepare the way of the 
 Lord, for his second coming; and about that 
 time every valley shall be exalted, and every 
 mountain and hill shall be made low, and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and rough places 
 plain, and then the glory of the Lord shall be 
 revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for 
 the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 
 
 Thus, you see, every mountain being made 
 low, and every valley exalted, and the rough 
 places being made plain, and the crooked places 
 straight that these mighty revolutions will begin 
 to restore the face of the earth to its former 
 beauty. But all this done, we have not yet 
 gone through our restoration; there are many 
 more great things to be done, in order to restore 
 all things. 
 
 Our next is Isaiah, 35th chapter, where we 
 again read of the Lord's second coming, and of 
 the mighty works which attend it. The barren 
 desert should abound with pools and springs of 
 
144 THE RESUBKECTION 
 
 living water, and should produce grass, with 
 flowers blooming and blossoming as the rose, 
 and that, too, about the time of the coming of 
 their God, with vengeance and recompense, which 
 must allude to his second coming ; and Israel is 
 to come at the same time to Zion, with songs of 
 everlasting joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
 away. Here, then, we have the curse taken off 
 from the deserts, and they become a fruitful, 
 well-watered country. 
 
 "We will now inquire whether the islands 
 return again to the continents from which they 
 were once separated. For this subject we refer 
 you to Revelations vi. 14 : " And every moun- 
 tain and island were moved out of their places." 
 From this we learn that they moved somewhere ; 
 and as it is the time of restoring what has been 
 lost, they accordingly return and join themselves 
 to the land whence they came. 
 
 Our next is Isaiah xiii. 13th and 14th verses 
 where " The earth shall remove out of her place 
 and shall be as the chased roe which no man 
 taketh up." Also Isaiah Ixii. 4, "Thou shalt no 
 more be termed Forsaken ; neither shall thy lan< 
 any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be 
 called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah : for the 
 Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be 
 married." 
 
 In the first instance, we have the earth on a 
 move like a chased roe ; and in the second place 
 we have it married. And from the whole, an( 
 various Scriptures, we learn, that the continent 
 
AND RESTORATION. 145 
 
 and islands shall be united in one, as they were 
 on the morn of creation, and the sea shall retire 
 and assemble in its own place, where it was be- 
 fore ; and all these scenes shall take place during 
 the mighty convulsion of nature, about the time 
 of the coming of the Lord. 
 
 Behold ! the Mount of Olives rend in twain : 
 While on its top he sets his feet again. 
 The islands, at his word, ohedient, flee ; 
 While to the north he rolls the mighty sea ; 
 Restores the earth in one, as at the first, 
 With all its blessings, and removes the curse. 
 
 Having restored the earth to the same glorious 
 state in which it first existed levelling the moun- 
 tains, exalting the valleys, smoothing the rough 
 places, making the deserts fruitful, and bringing 
 all the continents and islands together, causing 
 the curse to be taken off, that noxious weeds, and 
 thorns, and thistles shall no longer be produced ; 
 the next thing is to regulate and restore the brute 
 creation to their former state of peace and glory, 
 causing all enmity to cease from off the earth. 
 But this will never be done until there is a 
 general destruction poured out upon man, which 
 will entirely cleanse the earth, and sweep all 
 wickedness from its face. This will be done by 
 the rod of His mouth, and by the breath of His 
 lips ; or, in other words, by fire as universal as 
 the flood. Isaiah xi. 4, 6 9, " But with righte- 
 ousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove 
 with equity for the meek of the earth ; and he 
 shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, 
 
146 THE RESURBECTION 
 
 and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the 
 wicked. The wolf also shall dwell with the 
 lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the 
 kid ; and the calf, and the young lion, and the 
 fatling together; and a little child shall lead 
 them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; 
 their young ones shall lie down together; and 
 the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
 sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, 
 and the weaned child shall put his hand on the 
 cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor de- 
 stroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth shall 
 be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea." 
 
 Thus, having cleansed the earth, and glorified 
 it with the knowledge of God, as the waters 
 cover the sea, and having poured out His Spirit 
 upon all flesh, both man and beast becoming per- 
 fectly harmless as they were in the beginning, 
 and feeding on vegetable food only, while nothing 
 is left to hurt or destroy in all the vast creation, 
 the Prophets then proceed to give us many 
 glorious descriptions of the enjoyments of its in- 
 habitants. " They shall build houses and inhabit 
 them; and they shall plant vineyards and eat 
 the fruit of them; they shall not build and 
 another inhabit ; they shall not plant and another 
 eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of 
 my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the 
 work of their hands. They shall not labour in 
 vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are 
 the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their 
 
AND RESTORATION. '147 
 
 offspring with them ; and it shall come to pass, 
 that before they call I will answer, and while 
 they are yet speaking I will hear." In this happy 
 state of existence it seems that all people will live 
 to the full age of a tree, and this, too, without 
 pain or sorrow, and whatsoever they ask will be 
 immediately answered, and even all their wants 
 will be anticipated. Of course, then, none of 
 them will sleep in the dust, for they will prefer 
 to be translated, that is changed, in the twinkling 
 of an eye, from mortal to immortal ; after which 
 they will continue to reign with Jesus on the 
 earth. 
 
 Thus we have traced the Prophets through 
 the varying scenes which conspire to restore the 
 earth, and its inhabitants, to that state of per- 
 .fection in which they first existed, and in which 
 they will exist, during the great sabbath of 
 creation. Having seen all things restored among 
 the living, we will now inquire after those who 
 sleep in the dust ; but, in order to understand 
 precisely the nature of their restoration, we must 
 ascertain the particulars concerning the resur- 
 rection of Jesus, for he was an exact pattern 
 after which all his Saints will be raised. We 
 recollect First, that he was] clothed upon with 
 flesh, and blood, and bones, like another man, 
 and every way subject to hunger, thirst, pain, 
 weariness, sickness, and death, like any other 
 person with this difference, that he was capable 
 of enduring more than any other human body. 
 Second, this same body was hung upon the cross, 
 
148 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 torn with nails, which were driven through his 
 hands and feet, and his side pierced with a spear, 
 from which there came out blood and water. 
 Third, this same body, being perfectly lifeless, 
 like any other corpse, was taken without a bone 
 being broken, and carefully wrapped in linen and 
 laid in the tomb, where it continued until the 
 third day; when, early in the morning, the 
 women came to the sepulchre, and his disciples 
 also, and found the linen clothes lying useless, 
 and the napkin which was about his head care- 
 fully folded and laid by itself, but the body which 
 had lain there was gone. From all their cir- 
 cumstances, we discover that the same flesh and 
 bones which were laid in the tomb were actually 
 reanimated, and did arise and lay aside the linen 
 which was no longer needed. And Jesus Christ 
 came forth triumphant from the mansions of the 
 dead, possessing the same body which had been 
 born of a woman, and which was crucified ; but 
 no blood flowed in his veins, for blood was the 
 natural life, in which were the principles of mor- 
 tality, and a man restored to flesh and blood 
 would be mortal, and, consequently, again subject 
 unto death, which was not the case with our 
 Saviour, although he had flesh and bones after 
 he rose, for when he appeared to his disciples, 
 and they were afraid, supposing it was only a 
 spirit, in order to show them their mistake, he 
 said, "Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not 
 flesh and bones as you see me have." And calling 
 for something to eat, he was provided with a 
 
AND RESTORATION. 149 
 
 piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, and he did 
 eat. And even afterwards, Thomas was invited 
 to put his finger into the prints of the nails in 
 his hands and feet, and to thrust his hand into 
 his side, from which it was evident that he not 
 only possessed the same body, but the same 
 wounds also continued to show themselves for a 
 witness, and will continue until he comes again, 
 when the Jews will look upon him whom they 
 have pierced, and inquire, "What are these 
 wounds in thy hands and in thy feet?" 
 
 ye hard-hearted, ye ungodly children of men ; 
 your eyes will very soon behold him who was 
 crucified for your sins ; then shall ye see that the 
 resurrection of the dead is a reality, something 
 tangible, and that eternity is not a land of shades, 
 nor a world of phantoms, as some suppose. 
 
 Among other things which Jesus did after the 
 resurrection, we find him in the humble attitude 
 of broiling fish, and calling his disciples to come 
 and dine. O what simplicity, what love, what con- 
 descension! Wonder, heavens ! be astonished, O 
 earth ! Behold the Redeemer clothed upon with 
 immortality and yet seated by a fire of coals, in the 
 open air, with his brethren, humbly partaking of a 
 meal of fish, actually prepared by his own hands ! 
 O ye great and noble of the earth, who roll in 
 luxury and refinement ! ye priests, who are 
 loaded with the honours, titles, dignities, riches, 
 and splendour of the world, here is a lesson for 
 you, which will make you blush : boast no more of 
 being followers of the meek and lowly Jesus ! 
 
150 THE BESUBRECT10N 
 
 But to return to the subject of the resurrection. 
 Having proved, to a demonstration, that our 
 Saviour rose from the dead with the same body 
 which was crucified, possessing flesh and bones ; 
 that he eat and drank with his disciples ; it puts 
 the matter for ever at rest respecting the resur- 
 rection of the Saints. But if more proof were 
 wanting, we have it in a prophecy of Job, 
 quoted in a former part of this work, where he 
 declares that his Redeemer will stand, in the 
 latter day, upon the earth, and he should see him 
 in the flesh, though worms should destroy the 
 body which he then had. The fact is, the Saints 
 will again receive their bodies, every joint being 
 in its proper and perfect frame, and clothed upon 
 with flesh, sinews, and skin, like as we now are ; 
 the whole being immortal, no more to see corrup- 
 tion, and clothed with a white robe of fine linen, 
 suitable for immortality to wear. Well did the 
 Apostle say, In heaven we have a more enduring 
 substance (not shadow). 
 
 But in order to illustrate this subject still far- 
 ther, we will carefully examine Ezekiel xxxvii., 
 which we have touched upon before. In this 
 vision, the Prophet is carried away in the Spirit, 
 and a valley of dry bones is presented before him, 
 and they are very numerous and very dry ; and 
 while he atands musing and contemplating the 
 awful scene, a very wonderful question is proposed 
 to him: " Son of man, can these dry bones live ? " 
 and he answered, " Lord God, thou knowest." 
 And the Lord said, u Sou of man, prophesy upon 
 
AND BESTOBATION. 151 
 
 these bones, and say, O ye dry bones, hear the 
 word of the Lord." So he prophesied as he was 
 commanded, and as he prophesied, there was a 
 noise, and behold, a shaking, and the bones came 
 together, bone to his bone, and the sinews and 
 the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered 
 them. And again he prophesied to the winds, 
 saying, " Come from the four winds, O breath, 
 and breathe upon these slain, that they may live ;" 
 and the breath entered into them, and they lived 
 and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great 
 army. We have heard many comments upon 
 this vision; some compare it to sinners being 
 converted, and some to the body of Christ, the 
 Church, when dead as to the spiritual gifts ; but 
 the Church becoming dead can no longer be said 
 to be the body of Christ ; as when she abides in 
 the true vine she lives and bears fruit, and is not 
 dead, and when she does not abide in him she is 
 cut off as a branch, withered and burned, instead 
 of rising again. But did you ever hear the Lord's 
 own explanation of this vision, in the same 
 chapter? It so far surpasses all other comments, 
 I am inclined to believe it ; I will therefore write 
 it in preference to any other, and run the risk of 
 becoming unpopular by so doing. The Lord says, 
 " Son of man, these bones are the whole house of 
 Israel ; behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and 
 our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. 
 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith 
 the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open 
 your graves, and cause you to come up out of 
 
152 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel ; 
 and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when 
 I have opened your graves, O my people, and 
 brought you up out of your graves, and shall put 
 my Spirit in you and ye shall live ; and I shall 
 place you in your own land. Then shall ye know 
 that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, 
 saith the Lord." Thus you have the whole vision 
 unfolded plainly, if the Lord's authority can once 
 be allowed, which is seldom the case in this age 
 of wisdom and learning. The fact is, all the seed 
 of Israel are to be raised from the dead, and are 
 to be brought into the land of Israel, which was 
 given to them for an everlasting inheritance. And 
 in order to do this, their old dry bones are to be 
 brought together, bone to its bone, and every 
 part of their bodies is to be reinstated ; and it will 
 make a great noise, and a wonderful shaking, 
 when they come together; and surely when they 
 stand upon their feet they will make an exceeding 
 great army. 
 
 This just explains the promise, so oft repeated 
 in Scripture, " My servant David shall be their 
 prince for ever;" indeed this same chapter makes 
 the promise to them, that His servant David shall 
 be raised up, and shall be a prince among them, 
 while the Lord shall be their King ; while both 
 they that are alive, and they that are dead, shall 
 be restored, and become one nation in the land, 
 upon the mountains of Israel ; while David comes 
 forth and reigns as a prince and shepherd, over 
 them for ever; and the Lord Jesus reigns as King 
 
AND RESTORATION. 153 
 
 of kings, and Lord of lords, in Mount Zion, and 
 in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. 
 
 O glorious day ! O blessed hope ! 
 My soul leaps forward at the thought ; 
 When in that happy, happy land, 
 We '11 take the ancients by the hand ; 
 In love and union hail our friends ; 
 And Death and Sorrow have an end. 
 
 I now no longer marvel, when I call to mind 
 that Abraham counted himself a stranger and 
 pilgrim, seeking a better country, and a city whose 
 builder and maker is God. It seems after this 
 restoration there will be but one more change 
 necessary, in order to fit the earth for man's 
 eternal inheritance ; and that change is to take 
 place at the last day, after man has enjoyed it in 
 peace a thousand years. We have now disco- 
 vered the great secret, which none butjthe Saints 
 have understood (but was well understood by them 
 in all ages of the world) , which is this, that man 
 is to dwell in the flesh, upon the earth, with the 
 Messiah, with the whole house of Israel, and with 
 all the Saints of the Most High, not only one 
 thousand years, but for ever and ever. There 
 our father Adam, whose hair is white";like the 
 pure wool, will sit enthroned in dignity as 
 the Ancient of Days, the great Patriarch, the 
 mighty Prince; while thousands!; of thousands 
 stand before him, and ten thousand ,-= times ten 
 thousand minister to him ; there he will shail all 
 his children, who died in the faith of the Messiah ; 
 
154 THE BESUREECTION 
 
 while Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, and 
 Daniel, with all the Prophets and Apostles, and 
 all the Saints of God of all ages, hail each other 
 in the flesh. Jesus the great Messiah will 
 stand in the midst, and, to crown the whole; will 
 gird himself, and administer bread and wine to 
 the whole multitude, and he himself will partake 
 of the same with them on the earth, all being 
 clothed in fine linen, clean and white. This is 
 the marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed are 
 they who partake thereof. 
 
 Having traced the great restoration of the earth 
 and its inhabitants, until we find them in the full 
 enjoyment of the promises made to their fathers ; 
 and having learned that a future state is not a 
 state of shadows and fables, but something tan- 
 gible, even a more enduring substance; we shall 
 now take a view of the division of their land, and 
 the laying out of their city, even the holy city, 
 where the tabernacle of God and His sanctuary 
 shall be for evermore ; for of course this was the 
 city sought for by Abraham and others, who 
 found it not. 
 
 This view is given in the last chapter of Ezekiel, 
 where he divides the land, by lot, to the whole 
 twelve tribes ; and lays off the city, and sanc- 
 tuary in the midst, with its twelve gates, three 
 on each side, the whole lying four-square. But 
 in his 47th chapter, we have a description of a 
 beautiful river, which will issue forth from the 
 eastern front of the temple, from under the 
 sanctuary, and run eastward into the l)ead Sea, 
 
AND RESTORATION. 155 
 
 healing the waters, and causing a very great 
 multitude of fishes ; so that from Engedi and 
 Eneglaim, the fishers spread forth their nets ; 
 while the miry places shall not be healed, but 
 shall be given to salt. And on either side shall 
 grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not 
 fade, nor shall the fruit thereof be consumed; it 
 shall bring forth new fruit according to its 
 months, because of the waters issuing from the 
 sanctuary; and their fruits shall be for meat, 
 and their leaves for medicine. 
 
 But to set forth more fully the building of the 
 city, and the materials of which it will be built, 
 we quote Isaiah liv. 11, to the end of the chapter : 
 " O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not 
 comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with 
 fair colours, and lay thy foundations with 
 sapphires. And I will make thy windows of 
 agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy 
 borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children 
 shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be 
 the peace of thy children. In righteousness 
 shalt thou be established ; thou shalt be far from 
 oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from 
 terror ; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, 
 they shall surely gather together, but not by me : 
 whosoever shall gather together against thee 
 shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created 
 the smith, that bloweth the coals in the fire, and 
 that bringeth forth an instrument for his work ; 
 and I have created the waster to destroy. No 
 weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; 
 
156 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 and every tongue that shall rise against thee in 
 judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heri- 
 tage of the servants of the Lord, and their 
 righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." 
 
 From these verses we learn something of the 
 beauty of their city, and of the materials of which it 
 is composed. Their stones of fair colours, their 
 foundations of sapphires, their windows of agates, 
 their gates of carbuncles, and all their borders of 
 pleasant stones, are well calculated to beautify the 
 place of His sanctuary, and to make the place of 
 His feet glorious, as well as to give a lustre and 
 magnificence to the whole city, of which the 
 Gentiles, with all their boasted wealth and gran- 
 deur, can form but a faint idea ; and then to 
 mark, in the same description, the knowledge, as 
 well as the peace and security, of all the inhabi- 
 tants ; while they who gather together against 
 them to battle are sure to fall for their sake : 
 surely this is the heritage of the servants of the 
 Lord ; surely this is a delightful city, and well 
 worth a pilgrimage like Abraham's. 
 
 But in order to form a still more striking idea 
 of the prosperity, wealth, beauty, and magnifi- 
 cence of the cities of Zion and Jerusalem, we 
 will quote Isaiah Ix. : " Arise, shine ; for thy 
 light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen 
 upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall 
 cover the earth, and gross darkness the people : 
 but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory 
 shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall 
 come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of 
 thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and 
 
AND RESTORATION. 157 
 
 see; all they gather themselves together, they 
 come to thee : thy sons shall come from far, and 
 thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then 
 thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart 
 shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abun- 
 dance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the 
 forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The 
 multitude of camels shall cover thee, the drome- 
 daries of Midian and Ephah ; all they from Sheba 
 shall come : they shall bring gold and incense ; 
 and they shall show forth the praises of the 
 Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered 
 together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall 
 minister unto thee ; they shall come up with ac- 
 ceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the 
 house of my glory. Who are these that fly as a 
 cloud, and as the doves , to their windows? 
 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships 
 of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their 
 silver and their gold with them, unto the name 
 of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of 
 Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the 
 sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and 
 their kings shall minister unto thee : for in my 
 wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I 
 had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall 
 be open continually ; they shall not be shut day 
 nor night ; that man may bring unto thee the 
 forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may 
 be brought. For the nation and kingdom that 
 will not serve the shall perish ; yea, those 
 nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of 
 
158 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the 
 pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the 
 place of my sanctuary; and I will make the 
 lace of my feet glorious. The sons also of 
 them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto 
 thee ; and all they that despised thee shall bow 
 themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and 
 they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the 
 Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 
 
 "Whereas thou hast been forsaken and 
 hated, so that no man went through thee, I will 
 make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many 
 generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk 
 of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of 
 kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord 
 am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty 
 One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, 
 and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood 
 brass, and for stones iron: I will also make 
 thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteous- 
 ness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy 
 land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders ; 
 but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy 
 gates Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light 
 by day; neither for brightness shall the moon 
 give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be 
 unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy 
 glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither 
 shall thy moon withdraw itself : for the Lord shall 
 be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy 
 mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall 
 be all righteous : they shall inherit the land for 
 
AND RESTOBATION. 159 
 
 ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my 
 hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall 
 become a thousand, and a small one a strong 
 nation : I the Lord will hasten it in his time." 
 
 In this chapter we learn First, that there is 
 a city to be built in the last days, unto which, 
 not only Israel, but all the nations of the Gentiles, 
 are to flow; and the nation and kingdom that 
 will not serve that city shall perish and be 
 utterly wasted. Second, we learn that the name 
 of that city is Zion, the city of the Lord. Third, 
 we learn that it is called the place of His sanctuary, 
 and the place of His feet. Fourth, that the best of 
 timber, consisting of fir, pine, and boxwood, is to 
 be brought in great plenty, to beautify the place 
 of His sanctuary, and make the place of His feet 
 glorious. Fifth, the precious metals are to abound 
 in such plenty, that gold is to be in the room of 
 brass, silver in the room of iron, brass in the room 
 of wood, iron in the room of stones Their officers 
 are to be peace-officers, and their exactors righte- 
 ous exactors ; violence is no more to be heard in 
 the land ; wasting nor destruction within their bor- 
 ders. Their walls are to be Salvation, and their 
 gates Praise : while the glory of God, in the midst 
 of the city, outshines the sun. The days of their 
 mourning are ended : their people are all righteous , 
 and are to inherit the land for ever, being the 
 branch of the Lord's planting, that He may be 
 glorified. A little one shall become a strong 
 nation, and the Lord will hasten it in his time. 
 
 The Psalmist David has told us, concerning 
 
160 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 the time of the building of this city, in his 102nd 
 Psalm, from the 13th verse to the 22nd, " Thou 
 shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion ; for the 
 time to favour her, yea the set time, is come. 
 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and 
 favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall 
 fear the name of the Lord, and all the Idngs of 
 the earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build 
 up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will 
 regard the prayer of the destitute, and not de- 
 spise their prayer. This shall be written for 
 the generation to come : and the people which 
 shall be created shall praise the Lord. For he 
 hath looked down from the height of His sanctu- 
 ary ; from heaven did the Lord behold the 
 earth ; to hear the groaning of the prisoner ; to 
 loose those that are appointed to death; to 
 declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and 
 His praise in Jerusalem ; when the people are 
 gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve 
 the Lord." 
 
 From this Scripture we learn First, that there 
 is a set time to build up Zion, or the city of 
 which Isaiah speaks, namely, just before the 
 second coming of Christ ; and that when this 
 city is built, the Lord will appear in his glory, 
 and not before. So from this we affirm, that if 
 such a city is never built, then the Lord will 
 never come. Second, we learn that the people 
 and kingdoms are to be gathered together, to 
 serve the Lord, both in Zion and Jerusalem : and 
 third, that this Psalm was written expressly for 
 
AND RESTOBATION. 161 
 
 the generation to come, and the people which 
 shall be created shall praise the Lord, when they 
 read it and see it fulfilled. 
 
 I will now call the attention of the reader to 
 the first paragraph of the sixth chapter of the 
 Record of Ether, contained in the Book of 
 Mormon. " For he truly told them of all 
 things from the beginning of man ; and how 
 that after the waters had receded from off the 
 face of this land (America), it became a choice 
 land above all other lands, a chosen land of the 
 Lord ; wherefore, the Lord would have that all 
 men should serve Him who dwell upon the face 
 thereof; and that it was the place of the New 
 Jerusalem, which should come down out of 
 heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord. 
 Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he 
 spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this 
 land ; and he spake also concerning the house of 
 Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi 
 should come. After it should be destroyed, it 
 should be built up again a holy city unto the 
 Lord; wherefore, it could not be a New 
 Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old ; but 
 it should be built up again, and become a holy 
 city of the Lord, and it should be built up unto 
 the house of Israel ; and that a New Jerusalem 
 should be built up upon this land, unto the rem- 
 nant of the seed of Joseph, for which things 
 there has been a type; for as Joseph brought 
 his father down into the land of Egypt, even so 
 he died there ; wherefore, the Lord brought a 
 
162 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land 
 of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto 
 the seed of Joseph, that they should perish not, 
 even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph, 
 that he should perish not ; wherefore, the rem- 
 nant of the house of Joseph shall be built up on 
 this land, and it shall be a land of their inheri- 
 tance ; and they shall build up a holy city unto 
 the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and 
 they shall no more be confounded, until the end 
 come, when the earth shall pass away. And 
 there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, 
 and they shall be like unto the old, save the old 
 have passed away, and all things have become 
 new. And then cometh the New Jerusalem: 
 and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is 
 they whose garments are white through the 
 blood of the Lamb ; and they are they who are 
 numbered among the remnant of the seed of 
 Joseph, who were of the house of Israel. And 
 then also cometh the Jerusalem of old, and the 
 inhabitants thereof: blessed are they, for they 
 have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; 
 and they are they who were scattered, and 
 gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, 
 and from the north countries, and are partakers 
 of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made 
 with their father Abraham. And when these 
 things come, bringeth to pass the Scripture 
 which saith, There are they who were first, who 
 shall be last ; and there are they who were last, 
 who shall be first." 
 
AND BESTOBATTON. 163 
 
 From this prophecy we learn First, that 
 America is a chosen land of the Lord, above 
 every other land. Second, that it is the place 
 of the New Jerusalem, which shall come down 
 from God, out of heaven, upon the earth, when 
 it is renewed. Third, that a New Jerusalem is 
 to be built in America, to the remnant of Joseph, 
 after a similar pattern, or like unto the old 
 Jerusalem in the land of Canaan ; and that the 
 old Jerusalem shall be rebuilt at the same time ; 
 and, this being done, both cities will continue in 
 prosperity on the earth, until the great and last 
 change, when the heavens and the earth are to 
 be renewed. Fourth, we learn that when this 
 change takes place, the two cities, together with 
 the inhabitants thereof, are to be caught up 
 into heaven, and, being changed and made 
 new, the one comes down upon the American 
 land, and the other to its own place as formerly. 
 And, Fifth, we learn that the inhabitants of these 
 two cities are the same that gathered together 
 and first builded them. The remnant of Joseph, 
 and those gathered with them, inherit the New 
 Jerusalem. And the tribes of Israel, gathered 
 from the north countries, and from the four 
 quarters of the earth, inhabit the other ; and thus 
 all things being made new, we find those who 
 were once strangers and pilgrims on THE EARTH 
 in possession of that better country, and that 
 city, for which they sought. 
 
 We will now turn to John's Revelation, and 
 examine the city after it is made new, and 
 
164 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 see if it is anything like the pattern which 
 it exhibited previous to its final change. Rev. 
 xxi., " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : 
 for the first heaven and the first earth were 
 passed away ; and there was no more sea. And 
 I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
 bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a 
 great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the 
 tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell 
 with them, and they shall be his people, and 
 God himself shall be with them, and be their 
 God. And God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes: and there shall be no more death, 
 neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be 
 any more pain : for the former things are passed 
 away. And he that sat upon the throne said, 
 Behold, I make all things new. And he said 
 unto me, Write, for these words are true and 
 faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I 
 am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. 
 I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain 
 of the water of life freely. He that overcometh 
 shall inherit all things; and I will, be his God, 
 and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and 
 unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, 
 and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, 
 and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
 which burneth with fire and brimstone : which is 
 the second death. 
 
 " And there came unto me one of the seven 
 angels which had the seven vials full of the seven 
 
AND BESTORATION. 165 
 
 last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come 
 hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's 
 wife. And he earned me away in the spirit to 
 a great and high mountain, and showed me that 
 great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out 
 of heaven from God, having the glory of God : 
 and her light was like unto a stone most precious, 
 even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and 
 had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, 
 and at the gates, twelve angels, and names 
 written thereon, which are the names of the 
 twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the 
 east, three gates ; on the north, three gates ; on 
 the south, three gates ; on the west, three gates. 
 And the wall of the city had twelve fouudations, 
 and in them the names of the twelve apostles of 
 the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a 
 golden reed to measure the city, and the gates 
 thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city 
 lieth four-square, and the length is as large as 
 the breadth. And he measured the city with the 
 reed, twelve thousand furlongs : the length and 
 the breadth and the height of it are equal. And 
 he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and 
 forty and four cubits, according to the measure 
 of a man, that is, of the angel. And the build- 
 ing of the wall of it was of jasper : and the city 
 was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the 
 foundations of the wall of the city were garnished 
 with all manner of precious stones. The first 
 foundation was jasper ; the second, sapphire ; the 
 third, a chalcedony ; the fourth, an emerald ; the 
 
166 THE BESUEBECTION 
 
 fifth, sardonyx ; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, 
 chrysolite ; the eight, beryl ; the ninth, a topaz ; 
 thetenth,'a chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth; 
 the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates 
 were twelve pearls ; every several gate was of one 
 pearl : and the street of the city was pure gold, 
 as it were transparent glass. And I saw no 
 temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty and 
 the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city 
 had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to 
 shine in it ; for the glory of God did lighten it, 
 and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the 
 nations of them which are saved shall walk in 
 the light of it : and the kings of the earth do 
 bring their glory and honour into it. And the 
 gates of it shall not be shut at all by day ; for 
 there shall be no night there. And they shall 
 bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 
 And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
 that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomi- 
 nation, or maketh a lie; but they which are 
 written in the Lamb's book of life.'' Also, 
 22nd chapter, he says, "And he shewed me a 
 pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, pro- 
 ceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on 
 either side of the river, was there the tree of life, 
 which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded 
 her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree 
 were for the healing of the nations. And there 
 shall be no more curse : but the throne of God 
 and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and his servants 
 
AND RESTORATION. 167 
 
 shall serve him. And they shall see his face ; 
 and his name shall be in their foreheads. And 
 there shall be no night there ; and they need no 
 candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God 
 giveth them light : and they shall reign for ever 
 and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings 
 are faithful and true : and the Lord God of the 
 holy prophets sent his angel to show unto His 
 servants the things which must shortly be done. 
 Behold, I come quickly : blessed is he that keep- 
 eth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." 
 
 From this beautiful description, we learn 
 First, that the new earth is not to be separated by 
 any sea; consequently, what is now called the 
 Eastern and Western Continents will then be one 
 land. Secondly, we learn that the Lord will make 
 not only the heavens and earth, but all things, new, 
 (including, of course, the cities of Jerusalem and 
 Zion, where His tabernacle will have been for 
 more than a thousand years.) Thirdly, we learn 
 that the city will lie four-square, and have twelve 
 gates, with the names of the twelve tribes of 
 Israel inserted, one on each gate ; three gates on 
 the north, three on the south, three on the east, 
 and three on the west ; precisely after the same 
 manner in which it will exist temporarily during 
 the thousand years, as described by Ezekiel. 
 Fourthly, we learn that it will be composed of 
 precious stones and gold, as the temporal city 
 also will be. as described by Isaiah. Fifthly, a 
 pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, 
 will flow through this renewed city, proceeding 
 
168 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 from the throne of God, just as living waters will 
 flow from the sanctuary in the temporal city, as 
 described by Ezekiel. Sixthly, the tree of life 
 will stand on either side of the river, even the 
 tree which will have once borne twelve manner 
 of fruits, and have yielded its fruit every month, 
 its leaves having been for the healing of the na- 
 tions. But now, when John sees it, the nations 
 have no need of healing, for there is no more 
 death, neither pain, nor sorrow, for the former 
 things have passed away, and all things are be- 
 come new ; consequently, he speaks in the past 
 tense, and says they were for the healing of the 
 nations ; of course, referring to the times when 
 they existed temporarily, according to Ezekiel, 
 before their final change. 
 
 Now, of the things of which we have spoken, 
 this is the sum : Ezekiel and the other Prophets 
 have presented us with a view of the cities 
 of Zion and Jerusalem as they will exist 
 during the one thousand years of rest called the 
 Millennium; and John has given us a view of 
 the same cities, after their final change, when 
 they come down from God out of heaven, and 
 rest upon the new earth. But Ether has given 
 us a sketch of them as they are to exist, both in 
 their temporal and in their eternal state : and he 
 has told us plainly concerning their location, 
 first and last, namely, the New Jerusalem, in 
 America, inhabited by the remnant of Joseph, 
 and those gathered with them who have washed 
 their robes, and made them white, in the 
 
 blood of the Lamb: and the other Jerusalem, in 
 
 v 
 
 
 
AND RESTORATION. 169 
 
 its former place, inhabited by the house of Israel 
 gathered from the north countries, and from all 
 countries where they were scattered, having 
 washed their robes, and made them white, in the 
 blood of the Lamb. And here is the end of the 
 matter. 
 
 I would only add, that the government of the 
 United States has been engaged, for upwards of 
 nine years, in gathering the remnant of Joseph 
 to the very place where they will finally build a 
 New Jerusalem, a city of Zion, with the assistance 
 of the gentiles, who will gather them from all 
 the face of the land; and this gathering is 
 clearly predicted in the book of Mormon, and 
 other revelations, and the place before appointed, 
 and the time set for its fulfilment. And except 
 the Gentiles repent of all their abominations, and 
 embrace the same covenant, they will soon be 
 utterly destroyed from off the face of this land ; 
 as it is written by Isaiah, " The nation and 
 kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. 
 Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." And 
 as it is written by the prophet Nephi, in the 
 latter part of the ninth, and fore part of the 
 tenth chapters of his record, in the Book of 
 Mormon, " And verily I say unto you, I give unto 
 you a sign, that ye may know the time when these 
 things shall be about to take place, that I shall 
 gather in from their long dispersion my people, 
 O house of Israel, and shall establish again 
 among them my Zion. And behold, this is the 
 thing which I will give unto you for a sign : for 
 
 I 
 
170 .THE RESURRECTION 
 
 verily I say unto you, that when these things 
 which I declare unto you, and which I shall 
 declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by the 
 power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given 
 unto you of the Father, shall be made known 
 unto the Gentiles, that they may know concerning 
 this people, who are a remnant of the house of 
 Jacob, and concerning this my people, who shall 
 be scattered by them: verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, when these things shall be made 
 known unto them of the Father, and shall come 
 forth of the Father, from them unto you, for it 
 is wisdom in the Father, that they should be 
 established in this land, and be set up as a free 
 people, by the power of the Father, that these 
 things might come forth from them, unto a 
 remnant of your seed, that the covenant of the 
 Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenanted 
 with his people, O house of Israel. Therefore, 
 when these works, and the works which shall be 
 wrought among you hereafter, shall come forth 
 from the Gentiles unto your seed, which shall 
 dwindle in unbelief because of iniquity : for 
 thus it behoveth the Father that it should come 
 forth from the Gentiles, that he may shew forth 
 his power unto the Gentiles for this cause, that 
 the Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, 
 may repent and come unto me, and be baptized 
 in my name, that they may be numbered among my 
 people, O house of Israel ; and when these things 
 come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know 
 these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that 
 
AND RESTORATION. 171 
 
 they may know that the work of the Father 
 hath already commenced, unto the fulfilling of 
 the covenant which he hath made unto the 
 people which are of the house of Israel. And 
 when that day shall come, it shall come to pass 
 that kings shall shut their mouths : for that which 
 had not been told them shall they see, and that 
 which they had not heard shall they consider. 
 For in that day, for my sake, shall the Father 
 work a work, which shall be a great and a mar- 
 vellous work among them ; and there shall be 
 among them who will not believe it, although a 
 man shall declare it unto them. But behold, the 
 life of my servant shall be in my hand ; therefore 
 they shall not hurt him, although he shall be 
 marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, 
 for I will show unto them that my wisdom is 
 greater than the cunning of the devil. Therefore 
 it shall come to pass that whosoever will not 
 believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which 
 the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto 
 the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that 
 he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it 
 shall be done, even as Moses said,) they shall be 
 cut off from among my people, who are of the 
 covenant ; and my people, who are a remnant of 
 Jacob, shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the 
 midst of them, as a lion among the beasts of the 
 forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, 
 who, if he go through, both treadeth down and 
 teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Their 
 hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, 
 and all their enemies shall be cut off. 
 
172 THE RESURRECTION 
 
 " Yea, woe be unto the Gentiles, except they 
 repent: for it shall come to pass in that day, 
 saith the Father, that I will cut off my horses 
 out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy 
 chariots, and I mil cut off the cities of thy land, 
 and throw down all thy strongholds : and I will 
 cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt 
 have no more soothsayers ; thy graven images, I 
 will also cut off, and thy standing images out of 
 the midst of thee ; and thou shalt no more wor- 
 ship the works of thy hands ; and I will pluck 
 up thy groves out of the midst of thee ; so will 
 I destroy thy cities. And it shall come to pass, 
 that all lyings, and deceivings, and eiivyings, and 
 strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms shall be 
 done away. .For it shall come to pass, saith the 
 Father, that at that day, whosoever will not 
 repent and come unto my beloved Son, them will 
 I cut off from among my people, O house of 
 Israel ; and I will execute vengeance and fury 
 upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as 
 they have not heard." (Chap. ix. 11, 12.) 
 
 "But if they will repent, and hearken unto 
 my words, and harden not their hearts, I will 
 establish my Church among them, and they 
 shall come in unto the covenant, and be 
 numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, 
 unto whom I have given this land for 
 their inheritence ; and they shall assist my 
 people, the remnant of Jacob ; and also as many 
 of the house of Israel as shall come, that they 
 may build a city, which shall be called the New 
 
AND RESTO-RATTON. 173 
 
 Jerusalem ; and then shall they assist my people, 
 that they may be gathered in, who are scattered 
 upon all the face of the land, into the New 
 Jerusalem. And then shall the power of heaven 
 come down among them ; and I also will be in 
 the midst ; and then shall the work of the Father 
 commence at that day, even when this gospel 
 shall be preached among the remnant of this 
 people. Verily, I say unto you, at that day 
 shall the work of the Father commence among all 
 the dispersed of my people ; yea, even the tribes 
 which have been lost, which the Father hath led 
 away out of Jerusalem. Yea, the work shall 
 commence among all the dispersed of my people, 
 with the Father to prepare the way whereby they 
 may come unto me, that they may call on the 
 Father in my name ; yea, and then shall the 
 work commence with the Father, among all 
 nations, in preparing the way whereby his people 
 may be gathered home to the land of their in- 
 heritance. And they shall go out from all nations ; 
 and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by 
 flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, 
 and I will be their rereward." (Chap. x. 1.) 
 
 O ye remnant of Joseph, your secret is revealed, 
 ye who are despised, smitten, scattered, and 
 driven by the Gentiles from place to place, until 
 you are left few in number ! " O thou afflicted, 
 tossed with tempest and not comforted ;" lift up 
 your heads and rejoice, for your redemption 
 draweth nigh : yea, we have found your record, 
 the oracles of God once committed to your fore- 
 
174 THE KESURRECTION 
 
 fathers, which ha-ve been hidden from you for a 
 long time, because of unbelief. Behold ! they 
 are about to be restored to you again, then shall 
 you rejoice ; for you shall know that it is a bless- 
 ing from the hand of God; and the scales of 
 darkness shall begin to fall from your eyes ; and 
 the Gentiles shall not again have power over 
 you ; but you shall be gathered by them, and be 
 built up, and again become a delightsome people. 
 And the time has come; yea, the work has al- 
 ready commenced ; for we have seen you gather- 
 ing together, from all parts of the land, unto the 
 place which God has appointed for the Gentiles 
 to gather you; therefore, lay down your weapons 
 of war, cease to oppose the Gentiles in the 
 gathering of your various tribes, for the hand of 
 your great God is in all this, and it was all fore- 
 told by your forefathers, ten thousand moons 
 ago. Therefore, suffer them peaceably to fulfil 
 this last act* of kindness* as a 'kind reward for 
 the injuries you have received from them. 
 
 It is with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow 
 that I reflect upon these things. Sorrow, when. 
 I think how you have been smitten ; joy, wljfeii 
 I reflect upon the- happy change that now awaits 
 you ; and' sorrow again, when I turn my thoughts 
 to the awful destruction that awaitsHhe Gentiles, 
 except they repent, ^ut the eternal purposes of 
 Jehovah must roll on, until all His promises are 
 fulfilled, and none can hinder ; therefore, O God, 
 thy will be done. But while I still linger upon 
 this subject, with feelings that are easier felt 
 
ANT) RESTORATION. 175' 
 
 described, naethinks I can almost hear the Indian's 
 mournful chant resounding through his native 
 woods. It whispers thus 
 
 Great Spirit of our fathers, lend an ear ; 
 
 Pity the red man, to his cries give ear ; 
 
 Long hast thou scourged him, with thy chastening 
 
 sore ; 
 
 When will thy vengeance cease, thy wrath be o'er ? 
 When will the white man's dire ambition cease, 
 And let our scatter' d remnants dwell in peace ? 
 Or shall we, driven to the western shore, 
 Become extinct, and fall to rise no more ? 
 
 Forbid, great Spirit ! make thy mercy known ; 
 Reveal thy truth ; thy wand'ring captives own ; 
 Make bare thine arm of power for our release, 
 And o'er the earth extend the reign of peace. 
 
170 THF. l>KAF.!N<;s OF GOD 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DEALINGS OF GOD WITH ALL NATIONS, IN 
 KEGAKD TO REVELATION. 
 
 " And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
 on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times 
 before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they 
 should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and 
 find him, though he be not far from every one of us ; for in him 
 we live, and move, and have our being." Acts xvii. 26 28. 
 
 IN this text we learn, first, that all nations are 
 made of one blood; secondly, they are designed 
 to dwell on all the face of the earth, (America 
 not excepted) ; thirdly, thtit the Lord has deter- 
 mined the bounds of their habitation, that is, He 
 has divided the earth among His children, giving 
 each nation that portion which seemed Him good 
 for instance, the land of Canaan to Israel; 
 Mount Seir to Esau ; Arabia to Islimael ; America, 
 to the remnant of Joseph, &c., as a father parcels 
 off a large tract of land to his several children ; 
 and fourthly, He lias granted unto all the nations 
 of the earth the privilege of feeling after Him 
 and finding Him; since he is not so very far 
 from every one of them, whether they be in Asia, 
 Africa, Europe, or America, or even upon the 
 islands of the sea. Now, if any nation, in any 
 age of the world, or in any part of the earth, 
 should happen to live up to their privilege, what 
 would they obtain ? I answer, revelation, for the 
 best of reasons, because no people ever found 
 
WITH ALL NATIONS, ETC. 177 
 
 God in any other way, nor ever will. Therefore, 
 if they found God, they found Him by revelation, 
 direct from Himself, He revealing His will to 
 them ; and if they did not find Him in this way, 
 they never knew Him. And if they did obtain 
 revelation, it was their privilege to write it, and 
 make a record of the same, and teach it to their 
 children : and this record would be sacred, because 
 it would contain the word of God ; and thus it 
 would be a HOLY BIBLE, no matter whether it 
 was written by the Jews, the Ten Tribes, the 
 Nephites, or the Gentiles. I would just as soon 
 have the Gospel written by Nephi, Mormon. 
 Maroiii, or Alma, as the Gospel written by 
 Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Again, I would 
 just as soon believe a revelation given in America, 
 as believe a revelation given in Asia ; for if ever 
 a nation failed to get a revelation, it was because 
 they did not attain unto that which was their 
 privilege. But why, then, was any nation ever 
 left in darkness, from age to age, without the 
 light of revelation to guide them? I answer, 
 because their forefathers, in some age of the 
 world, rejected revelation, cast out and killed the 
 Prophets, and turned a deaf ear to the things of 
 God, until God took away that which they enjoyed, 
 and committed it to some other people, and left 
 them from generation to generation to grow up 
 in ignorance, until He should see fit again to send 
 His light and truth to that nation ; but those who 
 reject no light are under no condemnation, and 
 the mercy of God hath claim upon them, through 
 
178 THE DEALINGS OF GOD 
 
 the blood of Christ, which atoneth for the sins of 
 the world. The heathen who never had the light 
 of revelation will be saved by the blood of Christ ; 
 while their forefathers who rejected the light are 
 condemned, for this is their condemnation, that 
 when ligh came they rejected it. 
 
 Now, on this subject, let us examine the history 
 of various ages. In the morn of creation men 
 had light by direct revelation, for Adam, Cain, 
 and Abel talked with the Lord. In the next 
 age men had' light by revelation, for Enoch 
 walked with the L r>rd, and not only saw the first 
 coming of Christ, but his second coming also, and 
 he exclaimed, "Behold, the Lord cometh with 
 ten thousand of his saints, to take vengeance on 
 the ungodly," &c., as it is written in Jude. From 
 which it appears that Enoch knew and prophesied 
 concerning the Messiah with all the plainness of 
 an Apostle. Again, in Noah's day, there was 
 positive revelation. And all these were Gentiles, 
 or, rather, the word Israel had not yet been named 
 upon Jacob by the angel. Now, if it was the 
 privilege of so many Gentiles to get the word of 
 the Lord, and to have the knowledge of the true 
 God by revelation, it was the privilege of all 
 the rest ; and if any ran into darkness and wor- 
 shipped idols, until God gave them over to work 
 all uncleanness with greediness, and finally took 
 the oracles of God from them, and confined them 
 more particularly to Abraham, it was because 
 they had for a long time rejected them, and 
 rendered themselves unworthy of them ; so that 
 
WITH ALL NATIONS, ETC. 179 
 
 from the days of Israel the oracles of God seemed 
 to pertain more particularly to the chosen seed, 
 chosen for that very purpose, namely, that to 
 them might be committed the oracles of God, the 
 Priesthood, the service of God, and the promises 
 which had been in existence from the beginning 
 among the Gentiles, who had long rendered them- 
 selves unworthy of such blessings. 
 
 But in process of time Israel had rendered 
 themselves unworthy of a continuance of such 
 blessings, by stoning and killing the Prophets, 
 and rejecting the Messiah, and all those that God 
 sent unto them, until at length the Lord took the 
 kingdom from them as a nation, and gave it 
 again to the Gentiles; in the meantime winking 
 at all the ignorance through which the Gentiles 
 had passed, from the time the kingdom had been 
 taken from them until restored again. But as 
 soon as the kingdom of God was restored again 
 to the Gentiles, He commanded them all every- 
 where to repent, and then if they did not do it 
 they were under condemnation, but not before. 
 But no sooner was the kingdom taken from the 
 Jews, than the fruits of it disappeared from among 
 them, and they were dispersed into all the nations 
 of the earth, where the}^ have never again heard 
 the voice of inspiration commanding them to re- 
 pent. And if any Gentile has commanded them 
 to repent and be baptized (in the name of the 
 Lord) , without being inspired and commanded to 
 do it, it was an imposition practised upon them. 
 Not that repentance was any harm, but the im- 
 
180 THE DEALINGS OF GOD 
 
 position consisted in professing to be sent with a 
 message when they were not ; for when God com- 
 mands men to repent, He sends somebody with 
 the command, in order that they may teach it to 
 those for whom He designs it; and when He 
 does not command them to do a thing, He does 
 not require it at their hand. Any man who says 
 that the Jews, as a nation, have been commanded 
 to repent and be baptised, for the last seventeen 
 hundred years, says that which he cannot prove, 
 unless he can prove that there has been a new 
 revelation within that time, commissioning some 
 man to go to them with such an errand; neither 
 will any generation of Jews, which have existed 
 since inspiration ceased, be condemned for reject- 
 ing any message from God, for he has sent no 
 message to them, consequently they have rejected 
 none; but their forefathers, who did reject the 
 things of God, are under condemnation. 
 
 Again, when men were sent with the Gospel 
 to the Gentiles, they were commanded to repent ; 
 and this command was in force, whenever men 
 came preaching, who were sent by proper autho- 
 rity, and inspired by the Holy Ghost ; but when 
 they had killed the Apostles and inspired men, 
 and abused their privileges, until God took them 
 away, and left them without inspiration, then the 
 sin was answered upon that generation; and 
 those who have since come upon the stage of 
 action have never been commanded to repent and 
 be baptized, (except by some new revelation,) and 
 any man who says that God has commanded a 
 
WITH ALL NATIONS, ETC. 181 
 
 Gentile to repent and obey the Gospel since the 
 days that inspiration ceased, or since the days 
 .that Apostles and Prophets ceased from among 
 men, sa t ys that which he will not be able to prove, 
 unless he proves that some revelation has been 
 given since that time, again commissioning men 
 to go to the Gentiles with such an errand. 
 
 The fact is, God requires nothing more of a 
 generation than to do those things which He com- 
 mands them; a generation to whom He reveals 
 nothing, or to whom He does not send men with 
 a message from Him, have no message to obey, 
 and none to reject, and consequently nothing is 
 binding on them, except the moral principles of 
 right and wrong, which are equally binding on 
 all ages of the world, according to the knowledge 
 people have of moral rectitude. 
 
 But in these last days God has aga'n spoken 
 from the heavens, and commissioned men to go, 
 first to the Gentiles, commanding them every- 
 where to repent and obey the Gospel ; and then 
 He has commanded them to go to the Jews also, 
 and command them to repent and obey the Gos- 
 pel ; thus restoring again that which has been so 
 long lost from the earth. And wherever their 
 voices shall be heard issuing this proclamation, 
 in the name of Jesus, according as he has com- 
 manded them, then and there the people are 
 under obligation to repent and be baptized. And 
 he that repents and is baptized shall be saved; 
 and he that does not believe their testimony, and 
 repent and be baptized, shall be damned, for this 
 
182 THE DEALINGS OF GOD 
 
 plain reason, because God has sent them, by 
 revelation, with this very errand, to this very 
 generation, and he that rejects the least of God's 
 ambassadors rejects Him that sent him, and there- 
 fore they are under condemnation from that time 
 forth. But the message which God has sent 
 these men with, is binding only on the genera- 
 tion to whom it is sent, and is not binding at all 
 upon those who are dead and gone before it 
 came ; neither will it be binding on. any generation 
 which shall come after, unless God should raise 
 up men and send unto them with the same Gospel, 
 and then that generation to whom He sends them 
 will be saved or damned, according as they re- 
 ceive or reject their testimony. 
 
 People frequently ask this question " If God 
 has sent men with certain truths which are 
 binding on the people, and without which 
 they cannot be saved, what will become of the 
 good people who have died before the message 
 came?" I answer, If they obeyed the message 
 which God sent to their own generation, they will 
 be saved; but if not, they will be damned: but 
 if God sent no message to that generation, 
 then they rejected none, and consequently are 
 under no condemnation; and they will rise up 
 in judgment against this generation, and condemn 
 it ; for if they had received the same blessings 
 which are now offered to us, they would no doubt 
 have received them gladly. The principle of 
 condemnation, in all ages of the world, is 110 
 other than rejecting the very message which God 
 
WITH ALL NATIONS, ETC. 188 
 
 sends to them, while they pretend to cleave 
 closely to that which He has sent in former ages. 
 Woe nnto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
 crites, ye garnish the sepulchres of the Prophets, 
 and say, "If we had lived in the days of our 
 fathers, we would not have stoned and killed the 
 Prophets as they did." But ye yourselves are 
 witnesses, that you allow the deeds of your 
 fathers; for they killed the Prophets, and you 
 build their sepulchres. This was the testimony 
 of the Saviour to tke Jews, who were pretending 
 to stand stiffly for their former Prophets, and at 
 the same time .rejecting Jesus and his Apostles. 
 And so it is now in the nineteenth century. You 
 Christians (so called) garnish the tombs of the 
 Messiah and his former Apostles, and even build 
 fine chapels to their memory, entitling them 
 Saint Peter's Church, Saint Paul's Church, Saint 
 John's Church, &c. ; and you say, " If we had 
 lived in the days of the Apostles, wo would not 
 have stoned and killed them." But ye yourselves 
 are witnesses that ye allow the deeds of your 
 fathers; for they killed the Apostles, and you 
 build chapels in honour of them; while at the 
 same time, if a Prophet or an Apostle comes 
 among you, you will forthwith shut your houses 
 against him, as soon s he testifies of what God 
 has sent him to testify ; for you say there are to 
 be no more Prophets or Apostles on the earth, 
 and you forthwith pronounce him a false Pro- 
 phet ; and if a mob rise and kill him, or burn his 
 house, or destroy his goods, you will either re- 
 
184 THE DEALINGS OF GOD 
 
 joice, or sit in silence and give countenance to 
 Hie deed, and perhaps cry, "False Prophets!" 
 while your presses and pulpits teem with all man- 
 ner of lies concerning him. Woe unto you, priests, 
 pharisees, hypocrites ; but fill ye up the measure 
 of your fathers, for as they did, so do ye. Ven- 
 geance belongs to God. He will speedily avenge 
 His elect, who cry unto Him day and night. 
 
 But to return to the subject of Revelation. 
 "There is nothing secret that shall not be re- 
 vealed: neither hid that shall not be known;" 
 this was a maxim of the Saviour. And again, 
 " The knowledge of the Lord is to cover the 
 earth, as the waters do the sea." Now, I ask 
 how this great overturn is t > be brought about? 
 and I know no better way to answer this question 
 than to quote the prophecy of Nephi, Book of 
 Mormon, 2 Nephi xii. 8 10, " For I command 
 all men, both in the east, and in the west, and in 
 the north, and in the south, and in the islands of 
 the sea, that they shall write the words which I 
 speak unto them; for out of the books which 
 shall be written, I will judge the world, every 
 man according to their works, according to that 
 which is written. For behold, I shall speak unto 
 the Jews, and they shall write it. And I shall 
 also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall 
 write it. And I shall also speak unto the other 
 tribes of the house of Israel which I have led 
 away, and they shall write it. And I shall also 
 speak unto all the nations of the earth, and they 
 shall write it. And it shall come to pass that 
 
WITH ALT. NATIONS. ETC. IRf) 
 
 the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, 
 and the Nephites shall have the words of the 
 Jews ; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have 
 the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the 
 lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the 
 Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to 
 pass, that my people, which are of the house of 
 Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of 
 their possessions; and my word also shall be 
 gathered in one. And I will show unto them 
 that fight against my word, and against -my people 
 who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, 
 and that I covenanted with Abraham, that I 
 would remember his seed for ever." 
 
ISO 
 
 THE CONTRAST. 
 
 CHAPTER, VII. 
 
 A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST 
 AND THE FALSE DOCTRINES OF THE NINETEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 " Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine 
 of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of 
 Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 2 John, verse 9. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 And these signs shall 
 follow them that believe. 
 
 In my name shall they 
 cast out devils. 
 
 They shall speak with 
 new tongues. 
 
 They shall take up ser- 
 pents, and if they drink 
 any deadly thing, it shall 
 not hurt them ; they shall 
 lay hands on the sick, and 
 they shall recover. 
 
 He that believeth on 
 me, the works that I do 
 shall he do also; and 
 greater works than these 
 shall he do ; because I go' 
 to the Father, 
 
 And these signs shall 
 not follow them that be- 
 lieve, for they are done 
 away and no longer 
 needed. 
 
 In his name they shall 
 not cast out devils. 
 
 The gift of tongues is 
 no longer needed. 
 
 If they take up ser- 
 pents, they will bite them; 
 if they drink any deadly 
 thing, it will kill them. 
 They shall not lay hands 
 on the sick, and if they 
 do they shall not recover; 
 for such things are done 
 away. 
 
 He that believeth on 
 Christ shall not do any of 
 the miracles and mighty 
 works that he did, for 
 such things have ceased, 
 
THE CONTBAST. 
 
 187 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 There is nothing secret 
 that shall not be revealed, 
 neither hid that shall not 
 be known. 
 
 And He shall send His 
 angels, and they shall 
 gather His elect from the 
 four winds, &c. * 
 
 And I saw an angel 
 flying in the midst of 
 heaven, having the ever- 
 lasting Gospel to preach 
 to them that dwell on the 
 earth, &c. 
 
 And when He, the Spi- 
 
 , rit of truth, is come, he 
 
 will guide you into all 
 
 truth; again, "He shall 
 
 show you things to come. " 
 
 There is to be no more 
 revelation, for all things 
 necessary are already re- 
 vealed. 
 
 And there is to be no 
 more ministering of an- 
 gels, for such things are 
 done away. 
 
 Angels do not appear 
 in this enlightened age, 
 because they are no longer 
 needed. 
 
 If ye abide in me, and 
 my words abide in you, 
 you shall ask what you 
 will, in my name, and I 
 will give it you. 
 
 Father, neither pray I 
 for these alone, but for all 
 them that shall believe on 
 me through their words, 
 that they may all be one, 
 even as we are one. 
 
 One Lord, one faith, 
 and one baptism. 
 
 And by one Spirit are 
 
 An inspiration is no lon- 
 ger needed in this age of 
 learning and refinement. 
 Again, it shall not show 
 you things to come ; for 
 then you would be a Pro- 
 phet, and there are to be 
 no Prophets in these days. 
 
 It is not so in these 
 days, we must not expect 
 to heal the sick and work 
 miracles , consequently we 
 must not expect to re- 
 ceive what we ask for. 
 
 And we are all good 
 Christians, and we all be- 
 lieve on him through the 
 Apostle's words, although 
 divided into several hun- 
 dred different sects. 
 
 Many Lords, many 
 faiths, and three or four 
 kinds of baptism. 
 
 And by many spirits 
 
188 
 
 THF. CONTRAST. 
 
 THE DOCTBINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 ye all baptized into one 
 body. 
 
 And God gave some 
 Apostles ; and some, Pro- 
 phets ; and some, Evange- 
 lists ; and some, Pastors 
 and Teachers; for the per- 
 fecting of the Saints, for 
 the work of the ministry, 
 for the edifying of the 
 body of Christ. 
 
 These gifts and offices 
 were to continue until we 
 all came into the unity of 
 the faith, and of the know- 
 ledge of the Son of God, 
 unto a perfect man, unto 
 themeasure of the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ. 
 
 These gifts and offices 
 were given that we hence- 
 forth be no more children 
 tossed to and fro, and car- 
 ried about with every 
 wind of doctrine, by the 
 sleight of men, and cun- 
 ning craftiness, whereby 
 they lie in wait to deceive. 
 
 For no man taketh this 
 honour upon himself, but 
 he that is called of God, 
 as was Aaron. 
 
 But how shall they 
 
 are we all torn asunder 
 into different bodies. 
 
 And there are to be no 
 more Apostles, and no 
 more Prophets. But the 
 work of the ministry, the 
 perfecting of the Saints, 
 and the edifying of the 
 different bodies of Christ, 
 can all be done very well 
 without these gifts of 
 God, only give us money 
 enough to educate and 
 employ the wisdom of 
 men. 
 
 Apostles, miracles, and 
 gifts were to continue 
 during the first age of 
 Christianity, and then 
 were to cease, because no 
 longer needed, having ac- 
 complished theirpurpose. 
 
 Tracts, creeds, ser- 
 mons, and commentaries 
 of uninspired men, to- 
 gether with a hireling 
 priesthood, are now neces- 
 sary in order to keep men 
 from being carried about 
 with every wind of doc- 
 trine, &c. 
 
 For no man taketh this 
 honour upon himself, but 
 one who has been educa- 
 cated for the purpose, and 
 commissioned by men. 
 
 But how shall they 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 18!) 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 preach, except they be 
 sent (of God?) 
 
 Is any sick among you ? 
 let him call for the Elders 
 of the Church ; and let 
 them pray over him, 
 anointing him with oil in 
 the name of the Lord : 
 and the prayer of faith 
 shall save the sick, and 
 the Lord shall raise him 
 up ; and if he have com- 
 mitted sins they shall be 
 forgiven him. 
 
 Repent and be baptized 
 every one of you, in the 
 name of Jesus Christ, for 
 the remission of sins, and 
 ye shall receive the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost ; for 
 the promise is unto you, 
 and to your children, and 
 to all that are afar off, 
 even as many as the Lord 
 our God shall call. 
 
 It shall come to pass 
 in the last days, saithGod, 
 that I will pour out my 
 Spirit upon all flesh : 
 and your sons and your 
 daughters shall prophesy, 
 and your young men 
 shall see visions, and 
 your old men shall dream 
 dreams, &c. 
 
 preach except they be 
 well educated for the pur- 
 pose, and sent (by the 
 board of officers.) 
 
 If any are sick among 
 you, do not send for the 
 Elders of the Church ; or, 
 if the Elders come, do not 
 let them lay hands 011 
 them, neither let them 
 anoint them in the name 
 of the Lord, for this is 
 all Mormon delusion ; but 
 send for a good physician, 
 and perhaps they may get 
 well. 
 
 Repent and come to 
 the anxious seat (penitent 
 form), every one of you, 
 and cry, "Lord, Lord," 
 and may be you will get 
 forgiveness of sins ; Jtfid 
 you may be baptizea or 
 not ; but if you do, you will 
 not get the Holy Ghost as 
 they did anciently, for such 
 things are done away. 
 
 And in these last days 
 the Lord will not pour out 
 his Spirit so as to cause 
 our sons and daughters to 
 prophesy, our old men to 
 dream dreams, and our 
 young men to see visions ; 
 for such things are no lon- 
 ger needed, and it is all 
 delusion, and none but 
 the ignorant believe such 
 things. 
 
190 
 
 THE CONTBAST. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 Covet earnestly the 
 best gifts, but rather that 
 ye prophesy. 
 
 Covet to prophesy, and 
 forbid not to speak with 
 tongues. 
 
 But in vain do they 
 worship me, teaching for 
 doctrines the command- 
 ments of men. 
 
 I thank thee, O Father, 
 Lord of heaven and earth, 
 because thou hast hid 
 these things from the 
 wise and prudent, and 
 hast revealed them unto 
 babes ; even so, Father, 
 for so it seemed good in 
 thy sight. 
 
 No man knoweth the 
 Son but the Father, 
 neither knoweth any man 
 the Father save the Son, 
 and he to whomsoever the 
 Son will reveal Him. 
 
 And this is life eternal, 
 that they might know 
 thee, the only true God, 
 and Jesus Christ, whom 
 thou hast sent. 
 
 Do not covet any of 
 the supernatural gifts, 
 but especially bew r are of 
 prophesying, for such 
 things are done away. 
 
 Do not prophesy, and 
 it is all a delusion to 
 speak in tongues. 
 
 It matters not what 
 kind of doctrine, or what 
 system, a man embraces, 
 if he is only sincere and 
 worships Jesus Christ. 
 
 We thank God that He 
 has revealed nothing to 
 any person, wise or sim- 
 ple, for many hundred 
 years, but that our wise 
 and learned men have 
 been able to know God 
 without a revelation, 
 and that we shall never 
 be favoured with any 
 more. 
 
 We all know God in 
 this enlightened age, and 
 yet neither the Father 
 nor the Son has revealed 
 any thing to any of us, 
 for we do not believe re- 
 velations are necessary 
 now. 
 
 And we cannot know 
 for ourselves, by any 
 positive manifestation in 
 these days, but must de- 
 pend on the wisdom and 
 learning of men. 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 191 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 I thank ray God always 
 on your behalf, for the 
 grace of God which is 
 given you by Jesus 
 Christ, that in every 
 thing ye are enriched by 
 Him in all utterance, and 
 in all knowledge, even as 
 the testimony of Christ 
 (the spirit of prophecy) 
 was confirmed in you, so 
 that ye come behind in 
 110 good gift, waiting for 
 the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The foolishness of God 
 is wiser than men ; and 
 the weakness of God is 
 stronger than men. For 
 you see 'your calling, 
 brethren, how that not 
 many wise men after the 
 flesh, not many mighty, 
 not many noble are call- 
 ed ; but God hath chosen 
 the foolish things of the 
 world to confound the 
 wise ; and God hath chos- 
 en the weak things of the 
 world to confound the 
 things which are mighty, 
 and base things of the 
 
 We thank the Lord al- 
 ways in behalf of the 
 Churchin these days, that 
 she has 110 supernatural 
 gifts given unto her, and 
 that she is not enriched 
 by Christ, neither in the 
 gift of utterance, nor in 
 the gift of knowledge ; 
 neither has she the testi 
 mony of Jesus (the spirit 
 of prophecy) confirmed 
 in her, and she comes be- 
 hind in all the gifts; nor 
 is she waiting for, or ex- 
 pecting, the coming of 
 the Lord ; for he has come 
 once, and never will come 
 again till the great and 
 last day, the end of the 
 earth. 
 
 The wisdom of men, 
 and the learning of men, 
 are better than the 
 inspiration of the Al- 
 mighty, for that is not 
 needed any longer; for 
 you see your calling, 
 brethren, how that the 
 wise, and learned, and 
 noble, and mighty are 
 called in these days ; for 
 we have chosen such 
 to confound the foolish; 
 the unlearned, and the ig- 
 norant; yea, to confound 
 the base things of the 
 world which are despised, 
 
192 
 
 THE CONTRAST. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 world, and things which 
 are despised, hath God 
 chosen ; yea, and things 
 which are not, to 
 bring to nought things 
 that are; that no flesh 
 should glory in His 
 presence. 
 
 And I, brethren, when 
 I came to you, came not 
 with excellency of speech 
 or of wisdom, declaring 
 unto you the testimony of 
 God ; for I determined not 
 to know anything among 
 you, save Jesus Christ, 
 and him crucified. And 
 I was with you in weak- 
 ness, and in fear, and in 
 much trembling. And 
 my speech and my 
 preaching was not with 
 enticing words of man's 
 wisdom, but in de- 
 monstration of the Spirit 
 and of power; that 
 your faith should not 
 stand in the wisdom of 
 men, but in the power of 
 God. 
 
 But we speak the wis- 
 dom of God in a mystery, 
 even the hidden wisdom, 
 which God ordained be- 
 fore the world unto our 
 glory ; which none of the 
 princes of this world 
 knew : for had they 
 
 that flesh might glory 
 in His presence. 
 
 And we, brethren, 
 when we came unto you, 
 came with excellency of 
 speech, and with the wis- 
 dom and learning of man ; 
 and our speech and our 
 preaching were with en- 
 ticing words of man's 
 wisdom; not in demon- 
 stration of the Spirit and 
 power, for that is done 
 away ; . that your faith 
 should not stand in the 
 power of God, but in the 
 wisdom of man. 
 
 But we speak the wis- 
 dom of man in a mystery, 
 even the hidden wisdom, 
 which none but the learn- 
 ed knew ; for had others 
 known it, they would ne- 
 ver have been under 
 the necessity of employ- 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 198 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 known it, they would not 
 have crucified the Lord 
 of glory. 
 
 But God hath revealed 
 them unto ug, by His 
 Spirit ; for the Spirit 
 ^eurcheth all things, yea, 
 the deep things of God. 
 
 For what man knoweth 
 the things of a man, save 
 the spirit of man which is 
 in him? Even so the 
 things of God knoweth 
 no man, but the Spirit of 
 God. 
 
 Now we have received 
 not the spirit of the 
 world, but the Spirit 
 which is of God ; that 
 we might know the 
 things that are freely 
 given to us of God. 
 
 Which things also we 
 speak, not in the words 
 which man's wisdom 
 teacheth, but which the 
 Holy Ghost teacheth : 
 comparing spiritual 
 
 things with spiritual. 
 
 But the natural man 
 receiveth not the things 
 of the Spirit of God : for 
 
 ing us to tell it to 
 
 them. 
 
 
 tiaucroh 
 
 But God hath revealed 
 nothing unto us by His 
 Spirit ; for the wisdom 
 and learning of man 
 search all things ; yea, 
 all the deep things which 
 are necessary for us to 
 know. 
 
 For what man knoweth 
 the things of man, save 
 the spirit of man, which 
 is in him ? Even so the 
 things of God knoweth 
 no man by the Spirit of 
 God in these days, for it 
 is done away, or it reveals 
 nothing. 
 
 Now we have not re- 
 ceived the Spirit of God, 
 but the spirit of the 
 world, that we might not 
 know for a certainty, but 
 that we might guess at, 
 or give our opinion of, the 
 things of God. 
 
 Which things also we 
 speak, not in the words 
 which the Holy Ghost 
 teacheth, but which man's 
 wisdom teacheth ; for the 
 inspiration of the Holy 
 Ghost is done away. 
 
 But the learned man 
 may receive and under- 
 stand the things of God 
 
194 
 
 THE CONTRAST. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. 
 
 they are foolishness unto 
 him ; neither can he 
 know them, because they 
 are spiritually discerned. 
 
 Let no man deceive 
 himself. If any man 
 among you seemeth to be 
 wise in this world, let 
 him become a fool, that he 
 may be wise. 
 
 For the wisdom of this 
 world is foolishness with 
 God: for it is written, He 
 taketh the wise in their 
 own craftiness. And 
 again, The Lord knoweth 
 the thoughts of the wise, 
 that they are vain. There- 
 fore, let no man glory in 
 men. 
 
 Now concerning spiri- 
 tual gifts, brethren, I 
 would not have you igno- 
 rant. 
 
 But the manifestation 
 of the Spirit is given to* 
 every man to profit 
 withal. 
 
 For to one is given by 
 the Spirit the word of 
 wisdom ; to another, the 
 word of knowledge by 
 the same Spirit. 
 
 THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 by his own wisdom, with- 
 out the inspiration of the 
 Spirit ; for who will be so 
 foolish as to believe in 
 visions and revelations 
 in this religious age? 
 
 Let no man deceive 
 himself. If any man 
 among you seemeth to 
 be wise in the things of 
 God, let him get the wis- 
 dom of men, that he may 
 be wise. 
 
 For the wisdom of God 
 is foolishness with the 
 world, for it is written, 
 Let us educate young 
 men for the ministry; 
 and again, Let no man 
 preach who has not been 
 educated for the purpose ; 
 and especially, receive no 
 man who professes to be 
 inspired. 
 
 Now, concerning spiri- 
 tual gifts, brethren, we 
 would have you entirely 
 ignorant, for they are not 
 needed at all in this ge- 
 neration. 
 
 But the manifestation 
 of the Spirit is given to 
 no man to profit at all. 
 
 But to one is given, by 
 the learning of men, the 
 word of wisdom ; and to 
 another the word of know- 
 ledge by human learning. 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 195 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTEINES OF MEN. 
 
 To another, faith by 
 the same Spirit ; to 
 another the gifts of heal- 
 ing by the same Spirit. 
 
 To another, the work- 
 ing of miracles ; to ano- 
 ther, prophecy ; to 
 another, discerning of 
 spirits ; to another, divers 
 kinds of tongues ; to 
 another, the interpreta- 
 tion of tongues. 
 
 For as the body is one, 
 and hath many members, 
 and all the members of 
 that one body, being 
 many, are one body, so 
 also 'is Christ. 
 
 For by one Spirit are 
 we all baptized into one 
 body, whether we be 
 Jews or Gentiles, whether 
 we be bond or free ; and 
 have been all made to 
 drink into one Spirit. 
 
 For the body is not one 
 member, but many. 
 
 But now hath God set 
 the members every one 
 of them in the body, as 
 it hath pleased Him. 
 
 And if they were all 
 one member, where were 
 the body ? 
 
 And to another faith, 
 by the same Spirit; but 
 to none the gift of heal- 
 ing by the same Spirit. 
 
 And to none the work- 
 ing of miracles, and to 
 none to prophesy, and to 
 none discerning of spirits, 
 and to none to speak with 
 divers kinds of tongues, 
 and to none to interpret 
 tongues. 
 
 For as the body is com- 
 posed of many sects and 
 parties, who are opposed 
 to each other, and have 
 110 gifts, and, being many 
 sects, are but one body, 
 so also is Antichrist. 
 
 For by many spirits are 
 we all baptized into many 
 bodies, whether we be 
 Catholics or Protestants, 
 Presbyterians or Metho- 
 dists, but have all drank 
 into one spirit, even the 
 spirit of the world. 
 
 For the body is not one 
 sect, but many. 
 
 But now hath the God 
 (of this world) set the 
 sects and parties in the 
 body (of Antichrist) as it 
 hath pleased him. 
 
 And if they were all 
 one sect, where were the 
 body ? 
 
196 
 
 THE CONTRAST. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 Eut now are they many 
 members, but one body. 
 
 Now ye are the body 
 of Christ, and members 
 in particular. 
 
 And God hath set some 
 in the Church ; first, 
 Apostles ; secondly, Pro- 
 phets ; thirdly, Teachers ; 
 after that, miracles ; then, 
 gifts of healings, helps, 
 governments, diversities 
 of tongues. 
 
 Blessed are ye, when 
 men shall revile you, and 
 persecute you, and shall 
 say all manner of evil 
 against you falsely, for 
 my sake : rejoice, and be 
 exceeding glad ; for 
 great is your reward in 
 heaven ; for so persecuted 
 they the Prophets which 
 were before you. 
 
 Give to him that ask- 1 
 eth thee ; and from him 
 that would borrow of 
 thee turn thou not away. 
 
 Be ye therefore perfect, 
 even as your Father who 
 is in heaven is perfect. 
 
 But now are they many 
 sects, yet but one body 
 (even Babylon). 
 
 Now ye are the body of 
 Antichrist, and members 
 in particular. 
 
 And man hath set some 
 in the Church; first, a 
 hireling Priest ; secondly, 
 a board of officers ; third- 
 ly, tracts ; then com- 
 mentaries, creeds, and 
 diversities of opinions ; 
 hence societies, and won- 
 drous helps. 
 
 Woe unto you, when 
 men revile you, and per- 
 secute you, and say all 
 manner of evil against 
 you falsely for Christ's 
 sake. Lament ye, and be 
 exceedingly sorrowful in 
 that hour, for little is 
 your reward among men, 
 for so persecute they the 
 Latter-day Saints. 
 
 Give to him that ask- 
 eth of thee, if he be able 
 to make thee a similar 
 present ; and from him 
 that would borrow of 
 thee turn not thowaway, 
 if he be able to pay 
 thee again with good in- 
 terest. 
 
 Do not think to be per- 
 fect, for it is impossible 
 to live without sin. 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 197 
 
 THE DOCTKINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTEINBS OF MEN. 
 
 Take heed that you do 
 not your alms before men, 
 to be seen of them ; other- 
 wise ye have no reward 
 of your Father who is in 
 heaven. 
 
 . Therefore, when thou 
 doest thine alms, do not 
 sound a trumpet before 
 thee, as the hypocrites 
 do in the synagogues 
 and in the streets, that 
 they may have glory of 
 men. Verily, I say unto 
 you, They have their 
 reward. 
 
 And when thou pray- 
 est, thou shalt not be as 
 the hypocrites are ; for 
 they love to pray stand- 
 ing in the synagogues 
 and in the corners of the 
 streets, that they may be 
 seen of men. 
 
 Moreover, when ye 
 fast, be not, as the hypo- 
 oiites, of a sad couiite- 
 -naiice : for they disfigure 
 their faces, that they may 
 appear unto men to fast. 
 Verily I say unto you, 
 They kave their reward. 
 
 Lay not up for your- 
 selves treasures upon 
 earth, where moth and 
 rust doth corrupt, and 
 where thieves break 
 through and steal: but 
 
 Take heed that you do 
 your alms before men, to 
 be seen of them ; other- 
 wise, you have no reward 
 nor praise from the chil- 
 dren of men. 
 
 Therefore, when thou 
 doest thine alms, publish 
 it in the Missionary He- 
 rald, or some other paper, 
 that you may get praise 
 of the world. Verily I 
 say unto you, You shall 
 have your reward. 
 
 And when thou pray- 
 est, be like the hypocrites 
 in days of old ; go before 
 the public and cry migh- 
 tily, not expecting to be 
 heard and answered, for 
 that would be miraculous, 
 and miracles have ceased. 
 
 Moreover, when ye 
 fast, be like the hypo- 
 crites, of a sad counte- 
 nance, that ye may appear 
 unto men to fast ; so that 
 you may get your reward. 
 
 Lay up for yourselves 
 abundance of treasures 
 on the earth, where moth 
 and rust doth corrupt, 
 and where thieves break 
 through and steal ; for if 
 
198 
 
 THE CONTBAST. 
 
 THE DOCTEINE OF CHRIST. 
 
 lay up for yourselves 
 treasures in heaven, 
 where neither moth nor 
 rust doth corrupt, and 
 where thieves do not break 
 through nor steal ; for 
 where your treasure is, 
 there will your heart be 
 also. 
 
 Therefore all things 
 whatsoever ye would 
 that men should do to 
 you, do ye even so to 
 them ; for this is the law 
 and the Prophets. 
 
 Enter ye in at the 
 strait gate ; for wide is the 
 gate, and broad is the way 
 that leadeth to destruc- 
 tion, and many there be 
 which go in thereat. 
 
 Because strait is the 
 gate, aiid narrow is the 
 way, that leadeth unto 
 life, and few there be 
 that find it. 
 
 Beware of false Pro- 
 phets, which come to 
 you in sheep's clothing, 
 but inwardly they are 
 ravening wolves. Ye shall 
 know them by their fruits. 
 Do men gather grapes of 
 thorns, or figs of thistles? 
 
 THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 your heart is orily in hea- 
 ven, it is no matter how 
 rich you are in this world; 
 for now it is come to pass 
 that ye can serve God 
 and mammon. 
 
 Therefore all things 
 whatsoever men do to 
 yon, do you even so to 
 them ; for this is the law 
 and the practice. 
 
 Enter ye in at the wide 
 gate, where the multi- 
 tude go : for it cannot be 
 that all our great and 
 learned men are wrong, 
 and nobody right but a 
 few obscure individuals. 
 
 For the narrow way is 
 not altogether too strait, 
 but only a very few travel 
 in it. 
 
 Beware of Prophets 
 who come to you with the 
 Word of God ; you may 
 know at once they are 
 false, without hearing 
 them or examining their 
 fruits; popular opinion is 
 against them ; whereas, 
 if they were men of God, 
 the people would speak 
 well of them. 
 
THE CONTRAST. 
 
 199 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. THE DOCTRINES OF MEN. 
 
 Wherefore, by their 
 fruits ye shall know them. 
 Not every one that saith 
 unto me, Lord, Lord, 
 shall enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven ; but he 
 that doeth the will of 
 my Father who is in 
 heaven. 
 
 And it came to pass, 
 when Jesus had ended 
 tlu'se sayings, the people 
 were astonished at his 
 doctrine : for he taught 
 them as one having au- 
 thority, and not as the 
 scribes. 
 
 If we are only sure 
 that we have experienced 
 religion, and we pray 
 often, we shall be saved, 
 whether we do the Lord's 
 will or not ; for it matter- 
 eth not what system we 
 embrace, whether it be 
 right or wrong, if we are 
 only sincere. 
 
 And it came to pass, 
 when men had ended 
 these sayings, the people 
 were pleased with their 
 doctrines,, for they taught 
 them not as men having 
 authority, but as the 
 scribes. 
 
 D. MARPLES, PRINTER, LIVERPOOL. 
 
,